Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 369 



reafoning faculty ; for he would conclude, from comparing the 

 motions of nature with his own, that there muft be a principle, 

 which performed and direded thofe motions, infinitely fuperior, both 

 in wifdom and power, to that principle within him, which produc- 

 ed and directed his motions. 



But, as from the ftudy of himfelf man formed the idea of a God, 

 it was natural, and indeed neceflary, that he fhould fuppofe the God-, 

 of whom he had formed an idea in the manner I have defcribed, to 

 be a being fuch as himfelf, compounded of body and mind, though 

 very much fuperior to him in both; for he was not yet fofar ad- 

 vanced in the exercife of intelleiSt, as to have formed an idea of a 

 pure intellidual fubftance. And, accordingly, we find, that all 

 the Gods of the Greeks, as they are defcribed by Homer, had 

 bodies as well as minds ; but thefe very much fuperior to thofe of 

 men * : And in general all the Heathen Gods were fuppofed to be 

 beings of that kind, and were fo reprefented in their ftatues. But 

 thofe Gods of the antients were truly no more Gods than the men 

 whom they were pleafed to deity ; tor a God muft be a pure im- 

 material fubftance, entirely feparated from matter or body. Now, to 

 conceive diftindly fuch a fubftance, requires a great effort of the hu- 

 man intellect. Every idea, as 1 have elfewhere obferved *, muft at 

 firft be formed by abftradlion: And as all our ideas are firft formed 

 from the objeds of fenfe, which are the Iburce of all our knowledge 

 in this ftate of our exlftence, it is necelfary that we fliould form the 

 idea of an immaterial fubftance, by abftradling from body all its 

 qualities of ftiape and figure, of folidity and refiftance, and even of 

 parts. Of this kind of abftradlion, Euclid has given us an example 

 in the definitions, which he has prefixed to his Elements, where he 

 Vol. IV. 3 A feparates 



* It is a very good defcription -which Homer gives of the Greek Gods in the follow- 

 ing line. 



T*ry -rr'.^ xai KSi^aiv 'sc^irn, riui) T£, /3;i) ts. 



-J- Page 17. of this volume. 



