Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 327 



theological kind, I have faid a great deal of man ; and indeed it may- 

 be faid to be a hiftory of man in all the various ftates through wliich 

 he has pafTed down to his prefent ftate in this earth. But the reader 

 will confider, that man is the only intelligent animal here below ; 

 that it is only by the ftudy of him that we can have any idea 

 of intelligence, without the knowledge of which it is impoffible that 

 we can know any thing of the Divine Nature; and that in acquirin"- 

 this knowledge we are affifted, as I have fhown, more than in ac- 

 quiring any other knowledge, by the ftudy of ourfelves, which 

 gives us the moft certain of all knowledge and the moft con- 

 vincing, being founded upon confcioufnefs. And, as it is the moil 

 certain of all knowledge, fo it is the moft valuable ; for it not only 

 leads us, as I have faid, up to the knowledge of Divinity, which is 

 the fummit of human knowledge, but it diredts us in all the duties 

 of life, and makes us fit not only for the economy and government 

 of a family, but for the government of a ftate, and for every duty 

 of focial life. It is therefore not to be wondered that the infcrin- 

 tion upon the gate of the Temple of Delphi^ which recommends that 

 ftudy, was the refult of the wifdom of the feven wife men of Greece* 

 nor do I think that, if there had been feven times itv^n. of them 

 they could have given a better advice to their countrymen, and, I 

 may fay, to all mankind. 



There is one thing the reader will obferve in this work, that there 

 are more fa£ts related in it than I believe are to be found in any 

 theological work. Thefe fads are colledled both from antient and 

 modern books, and from information that I have had from men of 

 learning and obfervation that I have hadoccafion to know, and fome 

 of them from my own obfervation. But the reader will obferve, 

 that this work is not only, as I have faid, a work that may be faid 

 to be a hiftory of man, but alfo a proof, by facts, of the wifdom 

 and goodnefs of God. And there is particularly one fadt that I 



have 



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