i6 AN TIE NT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



two, they Aiicl there was no tlurd nature in the univcrfc *". The 

 modern philofophers, who are materialifts, muft, I think, maintain 

 thfe dodrine of Epicurus. But even fuch of them as are Thclfts 

 give a being to Space, and aiTert the exiftence of three things in 

 Nature, Mind, Body, and Space : The confequcnce of wliich ne- 

 cefTarily is, that Space is eternal, infinite, and immutable, as well as 

 God, and, like Him too, has an exiftence neccflary and independent. 

 And as Sir Ifaac Newton has exprefled himfelf, one ihould think 

 he believed that Deity had an exiftence dependent upon Space ; for 

 he fays that infinite Space is a kind of Scnforium or Organum to the 

 Teity. It is, therefore, of great confequence to philofophy and 

 theology, to examine well this Notion of the Being of Space, from 

 which fuch ftrange confcquences rcfult : And though I have faid a 

 good deal upon the fubjed in my Firft Volume t, to which I beg leave 

 to refer, where I have endeavoured to fhow, that Space has no ex- 

 iftence by itfelf, but only in relation to Body ; yet, as the fubje<ft is 

 of fuch importance, I will fay fomething more of it here. 



Upon the fuppofition that Space is fomething, and has a real ex- 

 iftence with the attributes above mentioned, it is no wonder that the 

 Athelfts have fet it up as a rival to Deity, and have rejedted all the 

 arguments ufed to prove that God is the only Eternal, felf-exiftent, 

 neccffarily exiftent, independent, indivifible, and immoveable Being. 

 On the other hand, it was as natural that Dr Clarke, and other 

 theifts, fuppofing it likewife to be a Being, ftiould contend that it is 



a 



• Omnis ut eft igiturper fe Naturn, duabus 



Confiftit rebus ; nam corpora funt, et inane. Lucret. lib. i. v. 410. 



Praeterea nihil eft, quod poftis dicere ab omni 

 Corpore fejun£lum, fecretumque effe ab inani ; 

 Quo quafi tertia fit rerum Natura reperta. IbU. v. 431. 



i" Bock 4. chap. 2. 



