1 8 ESSAYS ANi> OBSERVATIONS 



but tends, in an indiredl manner, to ar» 

 raign the Deity of want of power, or of 

 wifdom, or of both* 



Of the VIS INS IT A or VIS 

 I N E R T I iE. 



AviNG thus brought our fabje(5l 

 within bounds, by evincing that 

 we have no occalion to fearch for any o- 

 ther immediate eaufe of natural appearan- 

 ces than the activity of matter itfelf ; I 

 fliall proceed to examine fome of the 

 powers of matter, fuch of them as are pro- 

 ductive of the moft remarkable effects: 

 And Ihall begl;i with the ijis infita^ or vis 

 inertiee^ tl'iat fignal property of matter, 

 whereby, as philofo-phers teach, *' A body 

 *' always perfeveres in its ftate of reft, or 

 *' of uniform motion, in a right line, till, 

 ** by fome external influence, it be made 

 *' to change its Hate." This property is 

 Jiandled by writers without any degree of 

 accuracy. The bulk of them refolve it in- 

 to- 



