Neither can I Evade the force of these Arguments by supposing my self to _have alwaies Been, what now I am_, and that therefore I need not seek for an _Author_ of my _Being_. For the _Duration_ or _Continuance_ of my life may be _divided_ into _Innumerable Parts_, each of which does not at all _depend_ on the _Other Parts_; Therefore it will not follow, that because _a while ago, I was_, I must of necessity _now Be_. I say, this will not follow, Unless, I suppose some _Cause_ to _Create me_ (as it were) _anew_ for _this_ Moment (that is, _Conserve me_). For ’tis evident to one that Considers the Nature of _Duration_, that the same _Power_ and _Action_ is requisite to the _Conservation_ of a Thing each _Moment_ of its _Being_, as there is to the _Creation_ of that Thing _anew_, if it did _not exist_. So that ’tis one of those _Principles_ which are _Evident_ by the _Light_ of _Nature_: that the _Act_ of _Conservation_ differs only _Ratione_ (as the Philosophers term it) from the _Act of Creation_. Wherefore I ought to ask my self this Question, whether _I_, who _now_ Am; have any _Power_ to _Cause_ my self to _Be hereafter_? (for had I any such _power_, I should certainly _know_ of it, seeing I am nothing but a _Thinking Thing_, or at least at present I onely treat of that part of me, which is a _Thing_ that _Thinks_) to which, I answer, that I can discover no such _Power_ in Me; And consequently, I evidently know that _I depend_ on some _Other being distinct_ from _my self_. But what if _I_ say that perhaps this _Being_ is not _God_, but that _I_ am produced either by my _Parents_, or some other _Causes less perfect_ then _God_? In answer to which let me consider (as _I_ have said before) that ’tis _manifest_ that whatever is in the _effect, so much_ at least ought to be in the _cause_; and therefore seeing _I_ am a thing that _thinks_, and have in me an _Idea_ of _God_, it will confessedly follow, that whatever sort of _cause_ I assign of my _own Being_, it also must be a _Thinking Thing_, and must have an _Idea_ of all those _Perfections_, which I attribute to _God_; Of which _Cause_ it may be again Asked, whether it be _from it self_, or from any other _Cause_? If _from it self_, ’tis evident (from what has been said) that it must be _God_; For seeing it has the _Power_ of _Existing of it self_, without doubt it has also the _power_ of _actually Possessing_ all those _Perfections_ whereof it has an _Idea_ in it self, that is, all those _Perfections_ which I conceive in _God_. But if it Be from an _other Cause_, it may again be asked of that _Cause_ whether it be _of it self_, or from an _other_; Till at length We arrive at the _Last Cause_ of All, Which will Be _God_. For ’tis evident, that this _Enquiry_ will not admit of _Progressus in Infinitum_, especially when at Present I treat not only of that Cause which at _first made_ Me; But chiefly of that which _conserves_ me in this _Instant_ time.