148 ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



to a real quantity. There is no other 

 poflible method whereby to judge of the 

 intelligence or wifdom of any being, but 

 by its fenfible efFecSls ; and we may a? 

 eafily fuppofe one fingle lifelefs being to 

 produce by itfelf the ordinary effects of 

 wifdom, as that they can refult from the 

 fuccefUve aclion of an infinite number of 

 them. 



Because the world is often compared 

 to a machine, it hath been imagined, that, 

 when once fet a going, it may continue 

 its motions without any further interpofi- 

 tion of the Author of nature, or any other 

 being. If we attend, however, to any ma-^ 

 chines of human contrivance, we only 

 learn, that all their motions depend upon 

 certain acSlive powers, as gravity and elar 

 flicity. Thefe are employed by ingeni-^ 

 ous artifls, fuch as they find them, to 

 many ufeful purpofes in life. But it is 

 by confidering the effecfls of thefe powers 

 in general, and without regard to any 

 particular application of them, that we 

 muft determine concerning th&ir nature. 

 And it hath been already attempted tor 



fliew, 



