Chap.XVir. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 221 



paffions, for example, muft not go too far on the one fide, nor the fo- 

 cial and benevolent on the other, otherways diforder and mifery would 

 enfue *. This balance is kept even by what we call inftintl.^ which is 

 no other than ' Divine Wifdom diredin"; the mind of the brute to that 

 * which is beft, both for the animal itfelf, and for the kind.* And this 

 mind, fo dire<3:ed, is the animal nature. 



Here we may fee evidently why inJlinSl is faid never to err; and why 

 nature, according to Ariftotle, whether it be confidered in the animal, 

 vegetable, or unorganized body, does nothing in vain, but every thing 

 in the bcft way pofTiole : So that, if we could difcover, in every cafe, 

 what is bclf, we ihould be fure, fays Ariftotle, that nature does it f. 



When the animal or vegetable dies, then does the mind, which 

 kept together the body, and conduded all its operations, forfake it • 

 in confequence of which the body is dilfolved, and the feveral parts, of 

 which it was compofed, return to the levcral elements from whence 

 they were taken, viz. earth, air, fire, and waier, and retain nothing 

 but -the elemental powers of motion, which are natural to all buoy, 

 whether organized or unorganized. As to what beco.i es ot tneniiud, 



and 



* When I fpcak of the brute hzXngfelJiJhy we mud not underftand the word in die 

 fame fenfe as when we fay, that a man is felfiih ; for a feiiiih man lorms a lylicm of 

 felf-intereft, from which he excludes altogether, oi nc^iedts too uiuch, tut mtticit of 

 his kind- But the brute forms no Jy/iemy nor has any luca ot a ivhoie oi an^ kuui, but 

 has ditftrent appetites and inclinations, fome tending to prelcrve the indiviuuui, others 

 the kind- 



t De Animalium incejfu, cap. 2 Where he repeats a maxim that he often incul- 

 cates, ain* which he appears t( have confidered as an axiom of natural phiiolonhy 

 that ^ Nature does nothing in vain' 'Ori n (pva-n evh* aoin ^«t»v And, in order to 

 apply it to nnimais, which are the fuSjed of this book, he adds, «>.>.'«.« tx r^v ,,^^^^. 



