10 ESSAYS anp OBSERVATIONS 
Bur it is maintained by the bulk of our 
philofophers, that matter is altogether inca-- 
pable of active powers ; that activity is con- 
fined to immaterial fubftances, and that in- 
ertne{sis implied in the very conception of 
matter. This moves them to afcribe to fome 
invifible agency, al] that aGtivity which we 
difeover in matter. In every one of thea- 
bove inftances, matter, they fay, does not act, 
but is acted upon by the deity, who interpo- 
fes by general laws, to preferve the unifor- 
mity of nature. Thus, when a ftone falls, 
it is not the ftone which aéts, but the deity. 
Tt is the continual action of the deity which 
keeps the planets in elliptical orbits: and, 
when a plague infefts the world, it is the de- 
ity who fpreads the infection, and directs 
inert matter to ravage and deftroy. Arfenic 
is not of itfelf a poifon ; it is the immediate 
finger of God which makes it fo. 
Wira regard to this whimfical do@rine, 
which declares war again{t our fenfes, it may 
be obferved, that natural philofophy is not 
much affected by it, of whatever errors it may 
be productive in the more abftradt fciences. 
For it is admitted, that the deity, in acting 
upon matter, fubjects himfelf to the fame 
trict 
