Chap. VII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 429 



The firft of thefe is, that the Planets were firll moved by Bodies 

 which no longer exift, and without the lead degree of proof or pro- 

 bability that they ever exifted. This ftrange Hvpothefis, as I have 

 obferved*, is the more extraordinary, that it only ferves to remove 

 Mind to a greater diftance. For, What is it that moves the Body 

 which moves the Planet ? It can be nothing ell'e but Mind, unlcfs 

 they will fay that Body can move itfelf, or that there is nothing elfe 

 in the Univerfe but an infinite Chain of Bodies impelled, and im- 

 pelling one another; and, though I would not acciifc thofe who 

 maintain this notion of the beginning of the Planetary Motion, as 

 holding either of thefe opinions, yet I cannot help faying, that it 

 looks as if they wifhed to get free of Mind altogether in their Sy- 

 ftem of Nature, or, at leaft, fet it at as great a diftance as poflible. 



The fecond of thefe propofitions is that which afferts the Eternity 

 of Motion, in confequence of this' imaginary impulfe ; which, if 

 it be fuppofed to be by virtue of the Impulfe, is impoffible by the 

 nature of things ; and to maintain that it is by a Vis Infta^ or Power 

 inherent in the Matter itfelf, and elTential to it, is downright Ma- 

 terialifm. This Axiom, as it is called, gives me the more offence, 

 that it appears to me to ferve no other purpofe, except to make a 

 Machine of what, more than any thing elfe, manifefts the Power, 

 the Wlfdom and the goodnefs of God. For, as Aftronomy has 

 nothing to do with the Caufe of the Motion of the Celeftial Bodies, 

 which belongs to a Science quite different, much lefs has it any con- 

 cern with the duration of the Motion, whether it had a beginning, 

 or is ever to have an end. And, accordingly, this Eternity of Mo- 

 tion is not of the leaft ufe in explaining any of the phae.iomena of 

 the Heavens, which requires nothing more but that the Quantity 



of 



* P. 384. 



