Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. -97 



And here it is proper to make a diftlndtion betwixt the Author of 

 the univerfe and the things which he has produced. Thefe, as I 

 have fhown, either comprehend or are comprehended, or the fame 

 things both comprehend and are comprehended : Whereas the great 

 Author of the univerfe comprehends all thofe things which are pro- 

 duced by him and are an emanation from him, while he himfelf is 

 comprehended in nothing, but is, as I have fhown, felf-exiftent. 



Befides all thefe conneftions of things, there are certain likenefles, 

 not only of things of the fame genus or fpecies, but of different ge- 

 nufes or fpeciefes. Thus, fome plants are fo like animals, that they 

 make a clafs of beings, which are called Zoophytes; and the Coral is 

 fo like a mineral, that it was always held to be fuch, till lately that 

 it was difcovered to be an animal. 



We may, therefore, conclude that, upon the whole, there is a 

 wonderful connection of things in this lower world, fuch as could 

 not be produced by chance, nor by any intelligence lefs than the 

 Supreme, which has formed the fyftem of the univerfe. 



There are fome of this age I know, and calling themfelves philo- 

 fophers too, who will think, that all that I have faid, at fo great 

 length, of the order and arrangement of things in the univerfe, is no 

 more than the order and arrangement of our own ideas, but with- 

 out any foundation in nature : And particularly that the divifion of 

 things into genufes and fpeciefes, which I make to be the chief thing 

 in the fyltem of the univerfe, is altogether an operation of our minds, 

 by which we colle<a from particular things likenefles and refemblan 

 ces, of which we form what we call genufes and fpeciefes^ and th.it 

 in this way we arrange things for our more ready comprehenfion 

 memory of them. Upon this fubjedl I have faid a good deal 



Vol. VI. N ^»ier 



