to this Theory. How comes so fublime and noble a piece of Speculation to have had fo few Confiderers? Why, besides that general Prejudice that most Men are under againft very Abstract and Metaphysical Arguments, there may be these two more particular Reasons afsign'd. The first is the great Disorder of Original Corruption, and that Body of Sin to which we are so closely ally'd, which fortifies our Union with the Sensible, and weakens that Union which we have with the Intelligible World, which eftranges us from the Divine Light, and indisposes us from being willing to have any Communion or Fellowship with it. This may be supposed to be the great leading Principle of Averfion that turns off our Weak and Feeble Eyes from the direct and intent View of the Bright Sun of our Minds, tho' we cannot wholely avoid it neither, as seeing all things by its Light, and makes us withdraw and absent our selves from the World of effential Truth, tho' that be alwaies present to us, and in it we Live, Move and have our Being. According to that of St. Austin, Ecce intus Confes. 1. 10. eras, & ego foris. Mecum eras, & tecum non eram. And again, Nusquam recedis, & vix redimus adte. Or as St John expresses the Paradox, The Light Shineth in Darkness, and the Darkness Comprehended it not.

C. 27.1.8.c.3.

5. Another Reafon may be the exceeding great Difficulty of the Argument, there being not any one Subject perhaps of a more refined and elevated Nature, or that will carry a Writer through a larger Sea of matter of the most Abstract, Sublime and Metaphyfical Confidederation. The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly againft the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light and Truth, and staring, with a full-levell'd Eye, the great Luminary of Spirits in the very Face. And tho' Truth be the Food of the Soul, and the relish of it be very Delicious and Savoury to its Taft, and tho' even in this Sense also Light be sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to the Eye to behold the Sun, yet it is painful and troublesom to behold it So, and Men Love Shade and Darkness, rather than so strong and fo high a Tide of Light.

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6. In this I fpeak my Experience as well as Sence, having been along while discouraged from this Undertaking by the meer Difficulty of it. And tho' it continues at present a just ReaIon of Difcouragement to me, whenever I compare my flender Abilities with the Weight of this important Work, and consider the Disproportion of the one to the other, yet however having thought very much about this matter, perhaps more than most Men have done, and Confidering withal the great usefulness of it to the interest of Chriftian Morality, as well as the Illustration of Truth and the Improvement of Reason and Science, together with the little hopes of feeing it undertaken by any other other Hand, I thought it might be adviseable to begin an Essay (for I pretend to no more) upon this August and Noble Theme, tho' it were only to place it nigh a more publick Light, and engage the Eye of the rational World upon it.

7. I Consider therefore that there is a twofold State of things, Natural and Ideal. By the Natural State of things, I mean that State which they have in rerum Naturâ as we speak, that is, as they exist according to those Natures or Effences which were in time Created or Produced out of nothing by the Free and Arbitrary Will of their Almighty Cause.. The Collection of which Beings is what we call the Natural World, or Universe, which is not a felf Exiftent, Eternal, Immutable Natutre, no nor yet an effect neceffarily produced, but a contingent temporary Thing, which once was not, and for any felf Stability, Aseity, or Effential Immutability of its own, may again cease to be. It does indeed de fatto actually exist, and perhaps, as to the Substance of it, always shall, but Exiftence is not Essential to it, and so in it felf Confidered it may now as well not be, as it once was not. It cannot indeed Annihilate it self any more than it could make it felf, Being and not Being tho' equally in its Capacity, are equally out of its Power, but the cause that made it may unmake it again, and if he does not, its only because the Reasons that first induced him to give it Being, are still Reasons with him why he should Continue it.

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8. By 8. By the Ideal State of things, I mean that State of them which is necessary, permanent and immutable, not only Antecedent and Præexistent to this, but also Exemplary and Representative of it, as containing in it Eminently and after an intelligible Manner, all that is in this Natural World, according to which it was made, and in Conformity to which all the Truth, Reality, Order, Beauty and Perfection of its Nature does Confiff, and is to be Meafured. The System of things exifting after this manner, is what we call the Ideal World, which is not a Contingent, Temporary, Mutable thing, as this, but a felf Exifting, Eternal, Necessary and Immutable Nature, really Simple and One,but yet vertually and eminently Multiform and Various, and by its Multiform Variety having in it the Reasons, Effences and Specific Natures of all things, that is, such degrees of Being and Perfection as answer to them, and are intelligibly expressive of them, and whereof all things in the Natural World are but as the Prints and Impressions, I might say, the Shadows. In short by the Ideal World I understand that World which is Intelligibly what this is Senfibly, the eternal Model and exemplar of all Created Effence, distinctly exhibitive of all that is or can ever be, and so the Measure and Standard, not only of what actually is, but of the whole poffibility of Being.

9. This is our Ideal World, the ΚΟΣΜΟΣ νοητὸς fo much celebrated by Plotinus and Philo in his Cosmopoea, the first intelligible World, the World that that truly is, and the World of Truth, the great Type and Mould of external Nature, and the measure of the things that are. The only Eternal, Stable and Immutable World, that existed before the Almighty Fiat was Issued forth for the Production of this, and would remain unshaken if it were Reduced to nothing, that was before the Foundations of the Earth were laid, nay even before there were any Morning Stars that might Sing together, or any Sons of God to Shout for Joy, Job. 38. This is the World that was poffefs'd by the Lord in the beginning of his way, before his works of Old, which was Jet up from Everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the Earth was. When there were no Depths it was brought forth, when there were no Fountains abounding with Waters. Before the Mountain's were fettled, before the Hills was it brought forth. While as yet he had not made the Earth, nor the Fields, nor the highest part of the Dust of the World. When he prepared the Heavens it was there, when he fet a Compass upon the Face of the Depth. When he establish'd the Clouds above, when he Strengthen'd the Fountains of the Deep. When he gave to the Sea his Decree, that the Waters should not pass his Commandment, when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth. Then was it by him, as one brought up with him, and was daily his Delight, Rejoycing alwaies be-fore him, Prov. 8. This is the World of Original and Effential Beauty, where Order it felf, and very Reason and Proportion dwell, that never had a Chaos, and knows no black intervals of