3IO 



APPENDIX. Chap. I. 



obierved: That, therefore, It cannot move itfelf, nor continue Mo^ 

 tion any more than begin it ; — That neither can it flop or alter its 

 own Motion ; for that would be acling^ of which it is utterly in- 

 capable : But that the Motion muft ceafe, or be altered, in one or 

 other of the two ways I have mentioned, either by external ob- 

 ftrudion, or by the moving power ceafmg to ad, or changing its 

 adion ; — That Body, as it is perfedly inert in itfelf,, fo it is paflive 

 to every adion of Mind upon it : And thus the whole fyftem of 

 the univerfe is carried on by Mind that a^s^ and Body \.\\2itfuffers *; 

 — And, Iqjily^ that Mind can move Body in all ways poflible, 

 and this in the moft fmiple and dired way ; and that, accord- 

 ingly, the Planetary Motion is fo carried on. This, 1 think, is, 

 proved in two ways : Firfi:, from fad and experience ; for we fee 

 that animals move in a circle or ellipfis, as well as in a ftraight line, 

 but not fo perfedly as a fphere, their Bodies being moved by joints 

 and limbs, and confequently by parts ; whereas a fphere is moved 

 altogether, or not at all : And, 2do, a priori, from the nature of 

 Motion by Mind, which, as it moves by inceflant energies, can 

 change the diredion of the Motion In every inftant ; and therefore 

 can move in a curve, juft as naturally as in a ftraight line. 



Let us next confider what it is that induces the Newtonians to re- 

 jed a fyftem fo fimple, and, in place of it, to contrive one fo complex 

 and involved as theirs is ; and, for that purpofc, to advance fuch pa- 

 radoxes as thofe I have meniioned. It can be for no other reafon, 

 but that it is necelfary for fupporting Sir Ifaac's fyftem of aftro- 

 nomy, and demonftrating the laws of the Motions of the Celeftial 

 Bodies. I ftiould think it, indeed, unfortunate, if fo noble a fyftem 

 of fcience could not ftand upon any other foundation ; though, if 



that 



* This is the doctrine of the Pythagorean School, and of the moft antlent book., 

 of philofophy extant, OccHus Lucanus, ?rjg< tou Tctiroi. — See Vol. i. p- 31. 28. 46. 



