90 A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



in the Unlverfe, an Intelledtual Principle, fuperlor, by infinite de- 

 grees, to ours. — From the knowledge of ourfclves, and from no 

 other fource, is derived all this knowledge, not only of what is beft 

 here on earth, but of what is moft excellent in the univerfe. It is, 

 therefore, not to be wondered, that the feven wife men of Greece, 

 when they joined all their wits together, could produce no greater 

 or better fruit of their wifdom than what they prefented to the God, 

 and inlcrihed in his temple at Delphi ; I mean the precept, ' Know 

 ' thyfelf,' — the fountain of all knowledge, human and divine *. 



1 will conclude this long chapter, as I think all fpeculations con- 

 cerning Nature fhould be concluded, with an inquiry into the final 

 Caufe of the Author of Nature making fuch a difference betwixt 

 our faculties of Perception and thofe of the Brute. — If we had 

 been deftined by Nature, like the Brute, only to preferve the indi- 

 vidual and to continue the kind, and to enjoy thofe pleafures alone 

 belonging to the Animal Nature, it would have been fufficient for 

 u^, as it is for the Brute, and it would have ferved all the purpofes 

 of the Animal Life, if we had only perceived the external appear- 

 ance of Things, fuch as incur upon the fenfes ; and, as Nature be- 

 ftows nothing that is fuperfluous, ftie would have given us nothing 

 more. But, as our deftination is for much nobler purpofes, we 

 have P'ot faculties by which we can inveftigate the Nature and Ef- 

 fence of Things, and can contemplate, in fome degree, thofe ori- 

 ginal Forms, of which all the Forms here below are but as Types, — 

 by which we can difcover the one in every particular objed we fee, — 

 from thence proceed to a greater one in the fpecies, to a greater ftill 

 in the genus, to yet a greater in the higher genufes, and fo on, pro- 

 ceeding from unity to itnity^ one ftill rifing above another, till at laft 

 we arrive at the great one from whom all the reft proceed, and 

 who, as he is the only Self-exiftent Being, upon -whom every thing 



depends 



* See Plato, Pr»Pagoras , f- 343 edit to Serrani. 



