292 APPENDIX. Chap. f. 



Ariftotle has laid down and Sir Ifaac has adopted, *' That, as there 

 is noining wanting in Nature, fo there is nothing fuperfluous ; and, 

 theretore, fhe never does any thing by feveral powers that can be 

 done by one *." 



But this pofition, however extraordinary, is not all : For, lat 

 me aflc thofe gentlemen, whether or not they do not think it 

 pofTible that Almighty Power, or fome inferior Mind employed 

 by him, might have moved the planet in its elliptical orbit, with- 

 out firft projeding it in a ftraight line ? And, I think, he is a 

 bold man among them, who will deny the poflibility of it : And, 

 if it be pofTible, I fay that it fo was ; for, I think, I argue with 

 great certainty from the pojfe to the ejfe^ with refped to all the 

 operations of infinite power and wifdom, which we muft conceive 

 to do every thing in the lliorteft and fimpleft way pofTible. Here, 

 therefore, the planet, without being ever projeded in a ftraight line, 

 has neverihelefs a tendency to move in a ftraight line, in all the dif- 

 ferent dirediions above mentioned. Now, this cannot be by virtue 

 of the 'VIS mfita^ as it is commonly underftood, arifing from the 

 projedlion of the Body in a ftraight line ; but it muft be another 

 kind of ♦L'/j", to which the Newtonians have not yet given a name, 

 by which the Body, in whatever way its Motion is begun, has a 

 tendency or difpofition to move in a ftraight line, and to free ilfelf 

 from the conftcaint of any other motion impofed upon it. This is 

 plainly giving to Body an innate power of motion, which Sir Ifaac 

 has faid gravitation is not f, though it be likewife a motion in 



ftraight 



^ * NaUif-a nihil agit fruftra ; et fruflra fit per plura, quod fieri poteft per pauci** 

 * ora. — Natura enini fimplcx eft, et rerum caulis fuperfluis non luxuriat ;' Prind- 

 pia Mathematical Vol. i. Regula Prima Philofophandi. And in this he agrees with 

 Ariftotle, v/ho has faid, fpeaking of the Motion of the Celeftial Bodies, that God and 

 Nature do mthing in vain. — 'O ti ©£«{ y.ch ii fve-ti oyot* fAurni ■ronvTi — Lib. l. De Coeio^ 

 Cap. 4. in fine, 



f See the words of Sir Ifaac quoted, Vol. il. p. 376. 



