Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 41 



caufe. And, indeed, it would have been extraordinary, if, in the 

 greateft of all produdions, all the four caufes had not concurred*. 



Although the material world be not, as I have fhown, felf-exif- 

 tent, nor confequently the caufe of its own exiftence, I am of the 

 opinion of Ariftotle and the other antient philofophers, that, with 

 all the changes which it has undergone and is daily imdergoing, it 

 has exifted from all eternity. But it will not from thence follow, 

 that it is not the produdion of an eternal caufe ; for that an eternal 

 caufe ftiould have produced fomething from all eternity, is fo far 

 from being abfurd or inconfiftent, that it is the neceflary confe- 

 quence of the eternity of the caufe. And the Chriflian Theology 

 fumifhes us with an example of fuch a produdion, from fuch a 

 caufe, in the eternal generation of the Son of God : For all Chrif- 

 tians muft maintain that he is produced, or begotten, according to 

 our Scripture ftile, of the Father ; and no man, who is a Chriftian, 

 and underftands the religion he profeffes, will maintain that he was 

 produced in time^ and not from all eternity. — But of this 1 fliall fay 

 more in the next chapter. 



As produdion and prefervation are eflential qualities of the Su- 

 preme Being, it follows, I think, of neceflary confequence, that 

 there never could have been a time when he did not exert thofe 

 qualities. To fuppofe, therefore, that there was a time when he had 

 not produced the univerfe, of which the material world is a part, 

 would be to fuppofe that there was a time when he was not God, 

 The univerfe, therefore, muft have exifted from all eternity. 



Vol. VI. F It 



• The firft philofopher who difcovered thefe four caufes, in the univerfe, was Arif- 

 totle -, and a g' eat difcovery it was j and which was altogether unknown to the Greek 

 philofophers before him, who talked much of various caufes producing the univerfe, 

 fuch as earth, air, fire, and water ; but, as they did not know the nature of caufes, nor 

 how many there were of them, they may be faid not to have known about what t!iey 

 were trearjng, nor what they would have been at, — See what I have faid at fome Icngtlv 

 on the fubje^ of caufes, in vol. i> p. 53- 



