Part I. in the C?.-EATio n. 49 



repeats again, pag. 124, 125. of the fame Trea- 

 tife. 



ThAsHypothefSy I fay, I cannot fully acquiefce 

 in, becaufc an intelligent Being feems to me 

 requifire to execute the Laws of Motion : For 

 firll, Motion being a fluent Thing, and one Part 

 of its Duration being abfolutely independent 

 upon another, it doth not follow, that becaufe 

 ahy thing moves this Moment, it 'muft necef- 

 farily continue to do fo the next, unlefs it 

 were aftually polTefs'd of its future Motion, 

 which is a Contradidion ; but it ftands in as 

 much Need of an Efficient to preferve and con- 

 tinue its Motion, as it did at firft to produce it. 

 Secondly, Let Matter be divided into the fub- 

 tileft Parts imaginable, and thefe be mov'd as 

 fwiftly as you will, it is but a fenfelefs and ftu- 

 pid Being ftill, and makes no nearer approach 

 to Senfe, Perception, or vital Energy, than it 

 had before ; and do but only flop the internal 

 Motion of its Parts, and reduce them to Reft, 

 the fineft and mofl fubtile Body that is, may be- 

 come as grofs' and heavy, and flifF, as Steel, or 

 Stone. And, as for any external Laws, or efla- 

 blifh'd Rules of Motion, the flupid Matter is 

 not capable of obferving, or taking any Notice of 

 them, but would be as fuUen as the Moun- 

 tain was that MaJmnet commanded to come 

 down to him \ neither can thofe Laws execute 

 themfelves : Therefore there mufl, befides' 

 Matter and Law, be fome Efficient, and that 

 either a Quality, or Power, inherent in the Mat- 

 ter it felf, v/hich is hard to conceive, or fome 



E ' external 



