54 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



undoubtedly moved by Intelligence, that is, for a certain purpofe, 

 he muft alfo believe, that Body has, by its nature and elTcnce, Intel- 

 ligence, as well as a Moving Power *. 



To they'^fonJ hypothefis the obje£lion is obvious; That it gives 

 no account of the Origin, or Principle, of Motion, but liippofes an 

 infinite feries of bodies all impelling and impelled ; a fuppofition, as 

 I have fhown f, altogether abfuid and unintelligible: And, befides it 

 fuppofes Bodies, of the exiftence of which there is not the leaft evi- 

 dence, and which we cannot believe to exift, without renouncing 

 our fenfes, and making abfurd and incredible Fidlions, inftead of 

 Syftems of philofophy ; for, who can believe that there is any exter- 

 nal impulfe upon a ftone when it falls to the ground ? or, who can 

 believe, that, when the magnet comes near to the iron, there fliould 

 be thea a Body which impels the iron, but which did not exift be- 

 fore : — If fo, we muft alfo create bodies to account for all the mo- 

 tions exhibited by the chymifts, which, like the Magnetical Motions, 

 are only occafional. I will only fay farther of this ftrange hypo- 

 thefis, that it can only be adopted by thofe who have raifed them- 

 felves fo little above fenfe, as to have no idea of any other Motion, 

 but that which falls under the notice of fenfe, namely, that which 

 is produced by the impulfe of one Body upon another, and have fo 

 little ufe of Intelled:, as not to be confcious of their own operations, 

 by which they might know, with the greateft certainty, that it i» 

 their Mind which moves their own bodies. 



As to the hypothefis of Body attrading Body, or of any thing, 

 whether Body or Mind, operating where it is not, it is too abfurd 

 to be ferioufly refuted X' It has arifen from the term Attradion, 



which 



• See what I have faid further upon this fubjeft, p. 37. 

 t P. 37- 

 % See p. I (J. 



