5245 A BRIEF FCSIEí11E 01 ONTOLOGY. Indefinite is not a,mediutn .between finite and infinite, for they are two contradictory ideas ; indefinite therefore only de- notes our ignorance of the limits of a thing. No actual infinite can consist of,finite parts, forthere is some proportion hetween.the parts and awhole, but between ,finiteanti inti lite there is no proportion. Yet mathematicians oftentimes deal in , infinites, both with regard to magnitude and number : and though there be not iù nature any actual infinite quantity of either kind, for there is no magnitude, there is no number, which ,cannot receive addition, yet they *Ma notion ofinfinite length, breadth depth, of infinite extension and divisibility, and reason upon then. There is also ,infinite disproportion when they treat of quan- tities and their infinitesimals, t. e. such as bear no finiteproportion to the quantities whose infinitesimals they are. Their infinite approximationsmay be justly replied among the ever-growing ideas. CHAP. XVIII.-Of natural, moral and artificial Beings and Ideas. THE last distribution of beings which I shall take notice of is into natural, moral and artificial. Natural beings are all those things that have a real and pro- per existence in the universe, and are considered as formed and ordained by God the Creator ; such are bodies, spirits, men, beasts, trees, fruit, strengh, countenance, sense, reason, fire, air, light, &c. Though some of these are produced by others, as eggs by a hen, and fruit from a tree, yet God is generally considered as the author of all natural beings ; and indeed he is so either im- mediately by himself, or by the laws of nature, which he has ordained. Artificial beings are made by the contrivance or operations of men, whether they are of a mere corporeal nature, such as houses, windows, pictures, statutes, arms, garments, writing, music, and the various utensils of life ; or whether they relate more to intellectual matters, as words, sciences, rules, arguments, propositions, verse, prose, &c. Note, Though in some natural beings man is said to be the more immediate author or cause of them, such as a father of his son, &c. and in all artificial beings whatsoever, yet the power of man reaches only to what is modal in them ; it is God alone can Make substances, for that is most properly a creation. Moral beings are those which belong to behaviour, con- duct and government of intelligent creatures, or creatures endued with freedom of will, considered as lying under obligations to p.r-
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