134 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



CHAP. III. 



Prefervat'ioTi, as ivcll as ProduBion^ an cjfential ylttribulc of Stiprevtt 

 Jntelligencc. — No Annihilation of any thiiig, any more I ban Produc- 

 tion out of nothing. — ^he Univcrfe therefore Eternal; — but this only 

 ivith regard to the S)flems in it; — the Particulars compofng them in 

 a conjlant round of change. — Death of -inimals and Vegetables only 

 a Di/folution^ not an Annihilation, of their parts. — Proof of the im- 

 mortality of Immaterial Subfances from their having no parts.-- uni- 

 mals and Vegetables onl\ eternal by Generation, ~ Change univerfal 

 in the Material World. — The change in the World of Spirits only 

 as to their qualities. 



IT belongs to Supreme Intelligence not only to produce and form 

 this univcrfe but to preferve it. And in this, as well as in the 

 produ£lion of the univcrfe, the wifdom and goodnefs of God are 

 wonderful. 



And, in the firft place, there is nothing annihilated in this fyfteni, 

 nor indeed have we io much as the idta of annihilation ; for we can 

 no more conceive a thing reduced to nothing than produced out of 

 nothing. So far, therefore, I think the univcrfe mufl be admitted 

 to be eternal : But I hold it to be eternal in every refpeft a parte 

 ante, as Vv-ell as a parte pojl, to talk in the language of our modern 

 philofophy ; for, I think, I have proved that it is an emanation of 

 the Supreme Being from all eternity*. Nor, indeed, can I conceive 

 that there was a time when the Supreme Being had produced no- 

 thing: 



* Page 41. and following. 



