Chap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. L25 



thing: For I hold Produdion to be eflentlal ^o the Divinity; nor can 

 I conceive the Divinity, Uke the Gods of Epicurus, doing nothing. 



But though the fyftem be eternal, and alfo the things of which it 

 confifts, yet thefe things are not unchangeable, but, fo far from that, 

 are conftantly undergoing changes : Nor does there appeal: to be 

 in the univerfe any thing that is altogether unchangeable, except 

 the author of it, zvith whom there is no var'iablenefs, neither JJ^adow 

 of turning'^. And this makes, in my opinion, the fyftem ftill more 

 wonderful, that the fubjeds of which it confifts are conftantly chang- 

 ing ; and yet it is fo contrived that the fyftem itfelf ftill continues 

 the fame. 



One of thefe changes is fo great, that the individual, which fuffers 

 it, is faid to periJJj ; and I think not improperly, for the form of it is 

 loft. Now it is the form, not the matter, which denominates the fub- 

 ftancc, and makes it what it is. This change, in our fpecies, is cal- 

 led death or dijfolution ; and fo, I think, may be called that change in 

 every fubftance, by which the parts of it are feparated or diflblved, but 

 not annihilated, fo that the fubftance is no longer what it was. In our 

 fpecies, when this diffolution happens, our three minds, the intellec- 

 tual, the animal, and the vegetable, are feparated from the body, fo that 

 there is an end of the animal or man; but the body remains for forae 

 time, fo far, that it keeps together and is not diflblved, retaining 

 for fome time that mind which is in all natural bodies, organized or 

 unorganized, and, therefore, is called by Ariftotle nature^ and by 

 me the elemental mind; by which all bodies are not only moved to- 

 wards one another, but the parts of them cohere and keep togethcrf. 

 In the flime manner all animals die or are diflblved by the feparation 

 of their animal and vegetable lives from their bodies ; and their bo- 

 dies are likcwife diflblved in the iame m.mner as our bodies are af- 

 ter the feparation of our minds. The death of the vegetable is of 



the 

 ♦ Jumes, Chap. i. v. 17. + Page 18—20, and ^3. 



