4jo ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. BookV. 



of the Mo^■lng Force iliould be known, without inqiurhig what the 

 Cauie of It is, or how long it is to continue. 



The third is, that Body can attrad or repel Body at a diflance, 

 that is, can a£l: where it is not ; — a propofition impoffible to be true 

 of any thing exifting, whether Body or Mind ; and, accordingly, 

 as we have feen*, it is rejeded by Sir Ifaac himfelf in the ftrongcft 

 terms. 



The fourth is, that the Planetary Motion is not fmiple but com- 

 pounded — a Propofition which makes their Motions fo intricate, and 

 requiring fuch different operations of different Minds or Bodies, as is 

 altogether irreconcileable with that wonderful fmiplicity we obferve 

 in the works of Nature, in which, as there is nothing wanting, fo 

 there is nothing fuperfluous. It is, therefore, a propofition, which, 

 though it be ufed as an hypothefis, for the purpofe of teaching and 

 demonftration, can never be fuppofed to have a real exiftence, unlefs 

 we are to fuppofe, at the fame time, other Bodies impelling the Pla- 

 nets different ways, or, what is more inconceivable, two Minds 

 animating the fame Planet, and moving it in different diredlions at 

 the fame time. 



The fifth propofition I fhall mention is, I think, as Httle fupported 

 by proof or probability, as any that I have mentioned. It is this, 

 that, if the Motion of the Planets were to be fliopped, they would 

 all fall into their Centres, with a force increafing as the Squares of 

 the Diftances decreafe. It is the neceffary confequence of the prece- 

 ding propofition, concerning the Compofition of the Planetary Mo- 

 tions, and ferves, I think, to {how the falfenefs of it, as it is a pro- 

 pofition 



* Page 376. 



