Chap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 67 



thing in the univerfe but body^ can ever account either ''or the begin- 

 ning or continuation of 7710 1 ion. It is, therefore, an argument that de- 

 ferves to be very maturely confidered, fince, according to my appre- 

 henfion, without this diftindtion betwixt what inoves and is 77ioved, 

 the fydem of Theifm cannot be eftabhlhed upon foHd philofophical 

 principles. 



What it is that 77ioves body, whether it be a principle^ iiitenial or 

 exterTiaU whether it be other hody^ or what 1 call w/W, in contradi- 

 ftin<£lion to hody^ I am not now 10 inquire. All I propole at prefent 

 is to fhow, that the 77iovi7ig principle^ whatever it be, is diltindt from 

 that which is nwued ; and this I propofe to prove, frjl^ By an argu- 

 ment a priori^ that is, from the nature of th.^ thing ; and, idly^ By 

 indudtion from particular inftances, which the phaenomena of nature, 

 as well as the works of art, afford us. 



The firft kind of proof arifes from the nature of 77iovi7ig and beifig 

 7noved.^ That there is a relation betwixt thele two, nobody can de- 

 ny ; and the relation is no other than that of a6lion and pafft07i ; for, 

 to Jiio've is to aB ; to be 77iovsd is \.o Jnffer^ or to be pajfive. 



Thus much is evident to common fenfe ; but there was a philofo- 

 phy among the antients, firfl dilcovered in the fcliool of Pythagoras, 

 and afterwards adopted by Ariiiotle, which more iully explains the. 

 nature ot this thing we call relatioti. This philofophv, very little known 

 al prefent, but of which I Ih.all treat more at large In tlie fequel, is a 

 great bianch of the fcience of imi^K'r/ids ; the fubjedl of it being the nv^ft 

 general ideas, comprehending under them all other ideas, and, by con- 

 fequence, containing the principles of all things in tiie univerfe. Thefe 

 iiniverials it ranks and diOributes into certain cl •.({(. s, ten in number, 

 called, m the language of the Greek philofophy, categories^ but com- 

 monly, among us, predicaments ; a word we have taken from a bar- 



I 2 baroub 



