Cliap. XII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 207 



N the preceding chapter I have fliown what are the efpcieiit and 

 formal cauies of the univerle, ajid hotv, from thofe cauies, it 

 proceeds with the greateH: order and regularity, fo as to form a 

 fyftem the moft perfett that can he imagined. 1 have alfo Ihown 

 that Ideas are incorporeal fubitances, animating ail bodies unor- 

 ganifed as well as organifed, and giving form and motion to every 

 body here on earth. But what Body is, or of what matter it is 

 compofed, or from whence it is derived, 1 have not yet e;xplalned. 

 This, however, is neceflary to be done, otherwife we cannot under- 

 ftand the nature of that part of the univerfe which we inhabit, 1 mean 

 the material world, nor of a great part of our own compofuion ; fo 

 that our knowledge of the univerfe, and even of ourfelves, would be 

 very imperfect. 



The antients, whofe opinion I follow in this as well as otlier fub- 

 jedts of philofophy, make a diftindtion betwixt matter and body^ 

 And they fay, that body is compofed of matter. This matter, which 

 is commonly called the firjl matter, the antient philof iphers called 

 'vXti, and tell you that it is quite difierent from body, havinp- no 

 form or dimenijons, nor any other qualiry of body. Timixus as I 

 have obferved in the laft. chapter*, tells u^, that of it and idea body 

 is compofed; of which he lays matter is lo be confidered as the mo- 

 ther, and Idea as the father. As therefore it is neither mind nor bo- 

 dy. What is it then? All he fays, in anfwer to this queftion, is,'That 

 it is not perceived by the fcnfes, nor by the intelled, as we hive no 

 idea of it; but we know it, he lays, vod:.. Xoyia-fA.u, that is, by a baf- 

 tardklnd of reafon; of which all the lenfe, i can make, is, that we 

 know it only by negation ; for we know that it is neither mind nor 

 body, nor has any of the qualities of either, /^s to our modern 

 philofophers, they appear not to have thought of it at all, having 



• ' carried 



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