Chap. XVIL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 217 



yet thefe arc tHe only perfons that are fit to govern either themfelves 

 or others. Under them, tUerefore, the reft of mankind muft ad Hke 

 mafoiis or brick-layers under the diredion of an architect, without 

 knowing for what purpofe they ad, yet ading orderly and artificial- 



What makes us fo much furprifed at the artifice of nature, is our 

 being lo much accuftomed to the works of human art, in which 

 the art is always external to the matter upon which it operates ; 

 for the art is in the man, not in the wood-, (lone, or metal, which is 

 -only the lubjed ot the art. But, in nature, the art is internal, being 

 in the matter upon which it operates. This Ariftotle very well il- 

 luftrates, by fuppofing, that the wood of which the (hip is made had 

 in itfelfthe fhip-wright art ; tor then, fays h r, it would ad juft as na- 

 ture ads *, that is, without knowing either theend tor which it operates, 

 or the nature of the means that it employs ; for to know that, belongs 

 to a higher principle, namelv, the N««f or Intelletl, which, having 

 the perfed knowledge of the end tor which it ads, and jf the relation 

 .of the means to that end, guides and direds this fubordinate vita! 

 principle, which we call nature. 



Laflly^ Nature, as it ads without intelligence, {0 it ads without 

 "wilU or intention ; for iinll is the determination of intelligence to ad. 

 Of confequence, therefore, nature ads neceff^rily ; for, where ivill is 

 not, there necejfity muft be. And this necefflty is truly what the an- 

 tient philofophers called /^/^ ; for the Aphrodifian philofopher, the 

 oldeft commentator upon Ariftotle, has riglitly faid, * Th^ fate is na-' 

 * ture^ and nature fate f.' 



E c Nature^ 



• E< iv»i ey Tfti l,v\»» n trnvvrtiyixi, iutatg «» rr^vrtt t-rtiH' Phyf lib. 2. cap. 8. 

 t Te TJ uute^uift* kktx ^v(r»y, xm< to kktx ^vrtt uftxojAini. Alcxand. Aohrodlf, lib. 

 ie FaUi. 



