Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 67 



And, in this comparifon, the account I am to give of the human in- 

 telligence, will be very proper for the inftru£lion of thofe who know 

 no more of that intelligence than what is to be learned from Mr 

 Locke. 



And, in the firft place, our ideas, without which there can be no 

 intelligence, ariie all t^Pm our lenfations ; for it is by our fenfes on- 

 ly that we know any thing when we lirft come into this world; and 

 from theie are derived our ideas in the manner 1 have elfewhere de- 

 fcribcd at lome length*. On the other hand, tl.e ideas of the Divine 

 Mind are all congenial with that mind; and it would be profane in the 

 higheft degree to fay that the fupreme intelligence derived his ideas 

 from the obje£ts of fenfe. The confequence of this is, that the 

 ideas of the Divine Mind are all innate, eflential to his nature, and 

 from all eternity as he himfelf is; whereas our ideas come only in 

 procefs of time, and are brought to no degree of perfedlion, but by 

 the cultivation of arts and fciences. 



From this way of forming our ideas, it is evident that the pro- 

 grefs of the human mind muft be trom particulars to generals; for 

 it is only from particulars, which are apprehended by the fenfes, 

 that we form ideas of generals. Whereas the progrefs of fuperi- 

 or intelligences is juft the contrary; for they proceed from generals 

 to particulars, that is from what is more excellent to what is lefs fo. 

 It is, therefore, from the general idea that a fuperior intelHgence re- 

 cognifes the particular. Even in man it is not intelledt that per- 

 ceives the particular objed. All that the intelled apprehends is the 

 genus or fpecies of the objed ; but it is the fenfe that prefents to 

 him the objed. And, therefore, as I have faid elfewhere f, we can- 

 not be faid properly to fee a man or a horic; for all that the fight 

 perceives, is a particular thing of fuch or futh form. But it is the 



I 2 intelle<a 



• Vol. IV. of this work, Book I. Chap. 6. f Ibidem. 



