Excerpt from A Miscellaneous Metaphysical Essay Since we have not for ever been confcious'or percipient Beings, it is plain we have not'been from Eternity in the State we are in at pre fent, and confequently don't, necefi'arily exifi For whatever Being hath been abfolutely and permanently from Eternity, mull necefihrily have ekilted for'were it pofli'ble it could not have exified in any Point of Time, it were impofiible any Being could1eve'r be; for no Be Ing can be the Caufe of itfelf. It is alfo de monfirable, thatrtherepan be but one.being necedarily exiflent: For (hould we fuppofe that there were motorbau one, there would be no Inconfifience in fuppofing fome of thele might not have been in fome particular Point of Time becaufe, until we come to a Unity, Or one individual Being, there might flill be a Being from whence all others might proceed, as from the firl't original Source and Caufe, without any Abfurdity. Befides, were there dil'tinet Beings co-or'dinate, and of equal or in dependent Power, there would be a conf'tant Struggle and Oppofition in Nature, from their difi'erent Volitions and Inclinations', 'unlefs they were bounded by one fuperior Power. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.