22 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



in gradual afcent, the lower being always fubfeirvient to the higher : 

 And this progreflion ends, as it does in the Great Syftem of the Uni- 

 vcrfe, in the Hegemonic^ or Governing Principle, which unites the 

 whole, and completes the Microcofm of Man *. 



I will conclude this chapter with obferving, that the Tetrade of the 

 Pythagoreans applies only to our little world and to the great material 

 world, but not to the DivineNature; for, in the Divinity, there is only 

 a 7n'«?V/ of Principles ; the firft of which is that Grand Principle from 

 w^hich every thing in the Univcrfe proceeds, the original Source and 

 Author of all Being. This is the Firft Perfon in the Trinity of Plato, 

 and alfo in the Chriftian Trinity. The fecond is the ^ov^ of Plato, 

 and the ^^oy^c of the Chriftian Theology. This is the Principle of 

 Intelligence, begotten of the Father from all Eternity, as it is faid in 

 our Chriftian Creed, being an Eternal Emanation from the Firft 

 Principle. The third is the '^'^x^^ in the language of the Platonicians, 

 or in the language of the Chriftian Theology, the Holy Spirit. This 

 the Platonicians underftand to be the Principle of all Life and Mo- 

 tion, by whicli the whole bufmefs of Nature is carried on, and from 

 which arc derived, not only the Animal and the Vegetable Life, but 

 alfo that Life which I call the Elemental f. The Pythagorean Te- 

 tradc, therefore, applies only to Natural Philofophy, but not to 

 Theology : And accordingly it is faid by the Pythagoreans to be 

 the Fountain of Nature. And undoubtedly in Nature there are 

 thofe four Principles of Intellect, Animal, Vegetable, and Ele- 

 mental Life, which, as they are Immaterial Principles, and the Ac- 

 tive 



* See what I h:\ve further faid of the different fubftances of which we are compo- 

 izd, Vo!. II. lib. iii. chap. i. and of the important confequences which from thence 

 are deduced ; Ibid. c><p. iii. 



f This Platonic Doclrinc of the Trinity is moft clearly laid down by Plotinus, 

 Etmcad. z. lib. g. cap. i. and 6. where he fliows that there can be neither more nor 

 fewer Divine Principles. 



