I 



PHYSICAL AND LITERARY. 17 



'* thofe many things which he defigned it 

 ** fhould, by the mere contrivance oif 

 *• brutCTmatter, managed by certain laws 

 ** of motion, and upheld by his ordinary 

 *' and general concourfe ; than if he em- 

 " ployed, from time to time, an intelli- 

 ** gent overfeer to regulate and controul 

 ** the motion of the parts *." What may 

 be the opinion of others, I cannot fay ; 

 but, to me, this argument is perfectly 

 conclufive. Confidering this univerfe as 

 a great machine, the workmanfhip of aii 

 intelligent caufe, I cann9t avoid thinking 

 it is the more compleat, the lefs mending 

 or interpoficion it requires. The perfec- 

 tion of every piece of workmanfliip, hu- 

 man and divine, ' confifls in its anfwering 

 the defigned purpofe, without bellowing 

 further labour upon it. And therefore, 

 upon the whole, as we have no founda- 

 tion, either in reafon or experience, to de- 

 ny acflivity to matter ; I conclude, that 

 the dodlrine of the abfolute inertnefs of 

 matter, is not only repugnant to truth, 

 Vol. I. C but 



♦ Inquiry into the vulgar notion of nature^ p. 7. 



