Chap. II. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 75 



CHAP. II. 



The Recjti'ifites of a Sv/lcm. — ift, // ivujl confijl at leajl of l-wv- 

 Thttigs, — 2d, It niujl be a Whole, of -which thejc Tbiugi art Parts. 

 — 3d, Tbefe P ^rts mufl net be alike. — 4th, Neither mitfl they be 

 altogether different,— ^\.i\^ Ibcre mud be fomething Principal, to 

 ivhich all the other Things are fubordinate. — 6th, The Syfem mufi 

 not be infinite. — Laftly, // niufl be governed by General Laws. — 

 The extent of the Syflem of the Univerfe beyond our conception — but 

 •we may di/cover nvhcit is Principal in it. — // mvfl be governed by 

 fixed and general Laxvs^ operating conflantly and regularly — hn- 

 piffibte for us to difcovcr all the conne&ions and dependencies of the 

 Univerie; — but, from -what we knoiv ive are to argue to what we 

 do not know. 



AS I have flud in a former Chapter that the formation of a fyf- 

 tem is w:iat chiefly fliows intelligence, we are now to in- 

 quire whether or not the Univerfe be a fyftem. But, before we en- 

 ter upon this inquiry, it is proper to confider what is required to 

 make a f}llem of any kind. And, ift, There can be no fyftem of 

 one fmgle thing that has no relation to any thing elfc; for there can 

 be no relation but of two things at leaft, whether thefe thin^^s be 

 parts of the fame fubjedl or be different fubjeds. 2d, Every fyftem 

 muft be a whole, to which all the parts have relation; and thefe parts 

 muft alfo have a relation fo one another. 3d, The things of which 

 the fyftem is compofed muft not be alro;:erher alike, though they 

 muft, as I have faid, have a relation to one another ; for otherwife 



K- 2 there 



