Chap. IV. ANTIE NT METAPHYSICS. 89 



Not only is the fyftem of the univerfe the moft comprehenfive that 

 can he imagined, comprehending every thing that we can conceive to 

 exiri, but all its parts are connected and united with each ether by 'he 

 clofcfl: union pofTible, that of ivhole and part. And not only is the 

 univerfe fo comprehenfive a fyllcm, hut it is, as much as we know 

 of it, or can know of it, the mofl: perfedt fyflcm that can be ima- 

 gined ; and, as it is all produced, governed, and preferved, by the 

 fame author, we muft prefume, that what we cannot difcover of it is 

 of the fame kind. That we cannot difcover the whole of the fyflem 

 in this Rate of our exiftence is evident ; but, to have found out the 

 higheft genufes, comprehending all things in the univerfe, and re- 

 ducing them to number, was, I think, a wonderful difcovery. Sucli 

 w^as the difcovery of Archytas, the Pythagorean philofopher, publilli- 

 ed by Ariftotle in his book upon the Categories. 



The univerfe is, as I have faid, a fyflem of fyftems: And in each 

 of thcfe fyftems things are fo connedted together, that even the in- 

 dividuals of every fyftem contain not only every thing belonging 

 to the fpecies, but every thing belonging to the genus, and even to 

 the genus above that till we come to the Category to which it be- 

 longs ; of which I have given an example in the individual mati^ to 

 which I refer *. 



Thus, I think, I have proved, that the univerfe is a fyftem not only 

 the moft comprehenfive, but the moft perfeifl fyftem that can be ima- 

 gined ; and that, therefore, it muft be the work of intelligence and 

 Supreme Intelligence. This proof is furniflied to me by antient 

 philofophy, without the knowledge of which 1 would advife no man 

 to apply to philofophy of any kind, much lefs to Theology, the fum- 

 mit of philofophy: He may be a very good mathematician: He may 

 be very learned in plants and minerals, and in the hiftory of animals : 



Vol. VI. M He 



• Page 83. 



