Chap. ir. A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. 361 



Whether there be any fuch thing in Nature 2.%fpace^ \\\ this fenfe 

 of the word, is a queftion that does not belong to this part of rr;y 

 work, but will be treated of in the fecond part ; the fubjedt of which 

 is Nature : And I am only to inquire here, what the nature of /pcice 

 is, and what notion we ought to have of it, upon the fuppoiition that 

 it exifls. 



This inquiry is more neceflary, that it feems to be confidered by 

 many of our modern philofophers as fomething entirely dillindt, both 

 from body and 7mnd : So that, according to them, 1 have been hi- 

 therto miftaken in fuppofing, that all things are either body or wzW. 

 Some of them fee-n to confider it as a kind of rival to Deity ; for they 

 afcribe to it no lefs than four attributes of the Deity, etefnity. imfnobi^ 

 lity^ infinity^ and necefjary exiftence ; and others of them have gone fo 

 far as to make Deity, in fome fenfe, dependent xn'^owjpace ; for they 

 tell you, that infinite /pace is \X\t fenforitim of the Deity ; by which, if 

 they mean any thing, they muft mean, that it is by /pace that the 

 Deity perceives, as we do by organs of fenfe. It is therefore worth 

 while to inquire. Whether Jpace be entitled to this rank and prece- 

 dency in Nature ? or, Whether it be not the meaneft thing in Nature, 

 if any thing at all — and fuch as cannot, in any fenfe, be called a caufe 

 or principle of things ? 



Let us fuppofe, however extravagant and abfurd the fuppofition 

 may be, that time was when nothing exifted, neither body nor mind^ 

 fiihjlance nor accident ; flill, however, there would h^fpace and a va~ 

 cuiiiUy fuch as in an exhaufted air-pump, but without bounds or li- 

 mits. 1 defire to know. What fort of being ih\s /pace is ? It cer- 

 tainly is noijubjiance ; neither is it accident ; for, Cf what fhould it 

 -be the accident ? Is it then nothing? It is, in one fenfe ; for it is no- 

 thing aflually exifling ; but it is fomething potentially ; for it has the 

 capacity of receiving body^ for which it furnilhes roofu or place. It 



^' ^ has, 



