Everything I am made of is either form or matter. Nothing can destroy either of these completely — they cannot become nothing. I did not come from nothing to become a living being. Every part of me will change and become part of the whole world, and then in time become another part. This goes on forever. Through this kind of change, I became what I am. So did my parents, and their parents before them, going back forever. We can speak this way even though the world itself may run in cycles with set time periods.
All that I consist of, is either form or matter. No corruption can reduce either of these unto nothing: for neither did I of nothing become a subsistent creature. Every part of mine then will by mutation be disposed into a certain part of the whole world, and that in time into another part; and so _in infinitum;_ by which kind of mutation, I also became what I am, and so did they that begot me, and they before them, and so upwards _in infinitum_. For so we may be allowed to speak, though the age and government of the world, be to some certain periods of time limited, and confined.