an Autograph Manuscript by Sir Isaac Newton. 69 



first draught of the general Scholium at the end of the edition 

 of the Principia, published in 1713, and express the same theo- 

 logical opinion. It is remarkable, however, that it is only in the 

 third edition, published in 1 726, (the year before that in which 

 NEWTON died), that the substance of the second of these para- 

 graphs is found. 



The first paragraph expresses nearly the same ideas as some 

 sentences in the Scholium, commencing " Deus summus est ens, 

 aeternum, infinitum, absolute perfectum :" The first part of it is 

 as follows, and the expressions appear to me still more striking 

 and sublime than those in the Scholium itself: " Deum esse 

 ens summe perfectum concedunt omnes. Entis autem summe 

 perfect! Idea est ut sit substantia una, simplex, indivisibilis, 

 viva et vivifica, ubique semper necessario existens, summe in- 

 telligens omnia, libere volens bona, voluntate efficiens possibilia, 

 efFectibus nobilioribus similitudinem propriam quantum fieri po- 

 test communicans, omnia in se continens tanquam eorum prin- 

 cipium et locus, omnia per praesentiam substantialem cernens 

 et regens (sicut hominis pars cogitans sen tit species rerum in 

 cerebrum delatas, et illinc regit corpus proprium,) et cum re- 

 bus omnibus, secundum leges accuratas ut naturae totius funda- 

 mentum et causa, constanter cooperans, nisi ubi aliter agere bo- 

 num est *." 



The second paragraph expresses precisely the same idea as the 

 sentences of the Scholium, in the edition of 1726, beginning, 

 " A cagca necessitate metaphysica, quae utique eadem est semper 

 et ubique, nulla oritur rerum variatio ;" and is as follows : 



* The remainder of this paragraph is as follows: " Nam liberrime agit quae 

 optima et ratione maxima consentanea sunt, et errore vel fato caeco adduci non po- 

 test ut aliter agat. Hasc est idea Entis summe perfecti, et conceptus durior Deita- 

 tem minime perficiet, sed suspectam potius reddet, aut forsan excludet e rerum 

 Datura." 



