Chap. m. A N T 1 E N T METAPHYSICS. 353 



fiot go fo far to feek for examples ; for the Motion of every Animal 

 is a proof of this diftindion. When I move this book upon the table, 

 my hand is the immediate caufe of the Motion ; but my Mind is the, 

 remoter caufe. And it is a diftindlion which runs through all Na- 

 ture, and afcends even to the Great Author of Nature, v?ho is the 

 Firft Caufe of all the Motions in the Univerfe, and yet he is not the 

 immediate Caufe of any of them ; at leaft, we are fure not of fome 

 of them. In the cafe of the Deity, we have an example of the re- 

 ir.oter and the immediate caufes exifting at the fame time. But this 

 Is not always the cafe of tilings in generation and corruption ; for 

 there the remoter eaufe may ceafe to exift, and yet the immediate 

 caufe ftill operate. It is this that makes the fucceflion of plants and 

 animals ; for the plant or animal produced continues to live and 

 move after the parent plant or animal is gone : And it is in this 

 way that there is a conilant fuccellion of Caufes and Effedts in this 

 foblunary world. And this diftindlion of Caufes is as well known 

 in Art as it is in Nature ; for the Mind of the Artift is the firft or 

 remoter Caufe of the piece, but the Organs of his Body, or Organs 

 of Art which he employs, are the Immediate Caufes, or the Inftru- 

 mental Caufes, as they are commonly called. The impulfe, there- 

 fore, is only the Firft; Caufe of the Motion, or rather the Occafion,. 

 as we fliall afterwards ftiow, but not the Immediate Caufe. What 

 that Caufe is I (hall by and by inquire.. 



It is therefore evident that the Newtonians have erred ih this mat- 

 ter » f'^t from not underftanding the nature of Motion, and fo con- 

 fidering eveiry Motion, even Infinite Motions, as one thing, and not 

 many ; and, fecondly^ from not making the diftin£tion betwixt Firft 

 and Second Caufes^ and not confidering that there muft be an imme- 

 diate Caufe for the production of every thing, as well as a remoter 

 Caufe ; and that, therefore, there muft be an immediate Caufe, or a 

 Vol. II. Y y Caufe 



