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the nature and extent of that mixture and connection. Whilft they join them in

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By overlooking the intermediate links in the great chain of Causes, and by refolving every effect into the immediate and perfonal act of Deity, this learned writer fhould reflect, that he not only injures the beauty and contrivance, the connection and dependence fo admirable in the conomy of Nature, but puts a check upon the progrefs of Natural Philofophy, which confifts entirely of an enquiry into fecond causes; and alfo, that, by introducing a fort of 'miraculous interpofition, he is confounding the established 'order of natural things, and introducing a method of philofophizing, which would give a fanction to every ri'diculous hypothefis that doth not quite come up to an 'impoffibility'. Ibid. p. 115.

In allowing the Deity to act mediately by the inftrumentality of his own creation, we can be in no danger of suppofing that Matter is poffeffed of thought and motion in itself, or that it is able to make and to fupport the world: and the Wisdom of God will be infinitely magnified' in our conception "if he be found to bring about those things 'by the mechanism of fecond Caufas, to which philofo'phers have determined the divine power itself to be absolutely neceffary. And we may hence derive the only ra'tional encouragement to a chearful and diligent study of 'Nature. The Caufes employed are few and fimple be'yond expreffion: their Effects are infinitely various and 'wonderful; and to those who begin upon a right foundation they will unfold themselves every day more and 'more; nor will the labour of man be loft in the purfuit, 'till he has acquired as much knowledge of this fort, as 'will do him good in his prefent ftate.' Ibid. p. 225.

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ration, they should be careful not to confound them in contemplation, fo as to miftake the Principles of the one for the Principles of the other; which will finally and inevitably lead to error.

That every particular science has Principles of its own, which are totally independ

Upon the whole, both these Authors agree with our great philofopher as to the WHO, and the WHERE, and the WHEN. It is God, in all places, and at all times. But they all differ as to the Manner How. And though both may have fupplanted the Newtonian Forces, their hypothefes are oppofite to each other, and each may ferve to prove that the other is in the wrong. And, however honourable the search, if conducted with humility and prudence, the phyfical Causes of things may often be among thofe of "his ways which are past finding out." Whether he difpenfe his bleffings through the world more immediately with his own hand, or through the mediation of second Causes, the real government of the whole will terminate equally in HIMSELF. If "in his Wifdom he made "the worlds," HE upholds them by his Power. If his Sun replenish us with its light, and invigorate us with its heat, it is HE "who maketh it to rife on the evil and on

the good." If the Air yield nourishment and respiration to the vegetable and animal creations, it is He "who gi"veth life and breath and all things." If the clouds pour down water to fertilize the earth; it is HE " who sendeth "his rain on the just and on the unjuft;" HE is both "alpha and omega," the beginning and the end," in whom "we live and move, and have our being."

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ent of others, is that found and wholesome doctrine received from Ariftotle, to exem

plify and illustrate which is a main object of thefe Lectures ; as it leads to the due diftinction, and facilitates the just apprehenfion, of all the kinds of truth. Phyfical Principles, whether general Causes if they are to be found, or Phanomena which are generalized, are collected from Experiments which are particular matters of fact, and cannot poffibly originate in Geometry, which confifts in the fpeculation of general ideas; however useful Geomery may fometimes be in the art of deducing them in the first place, and of applying them in the fecond: and it is, accordingly, obferved by a very able and

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Young Mathematicians, who are fmatterers in philofophy, are apt to form very high and prepofterous ideas of the nature and perfection of Phyfical Science, betrayed probably into a mistake, in regard to its Principles, by Sir Ifaac Newton having called his Philofophiæ Principia < Mathematica:' and again by the following and fimilar expreffions Hactenus Principia tradidi a Mathematicis recepta, et Experientia multiplici confirmata.' Præf. ad Princip. From which it feems as if he confidered Mathematics as the subject matter and Experiments only as the Inftrument; just contrary to the truth.

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ingenious philofopher, that Geometry can be of little ufe till data are collected to • build upon".' Thefe data are furnished by -Experiments and Inductions, and lay the foundation of the philofophical fuperftructure, which Mathematics fometimes lend most useful affiftance in building up. If the foundation be well and firmly laid, the fuperftructure will be found and strong; if otherwife, it will be infirm and weak: for, however fure and invincible Mathematical reasoning may be, either confidered in the abstract, or in its operation on true materials; when employed upon falfe and mistaken principles, it is as falfe and erroneous as any other that is also misapplied.*

* Maclaurin, P. 35.

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* Geometriam atque Arithmeticam, velut Alas duas Astronomiæ datas effe, fcite quidem ac vere dixit Plato: Suumque adjecit calculum Lanfbergius. Atqui non folum Alas habent volucres quibus in cœlum fubvehantur, fed additur præterea Cauda, quæ Temonis inftar, volatus earum regere poffit. Simili omnino ratione, quamvis Geometria et Arithmetica Aftronomo fummopere fint neceffariæ, adeo ut illis nequaquam carere poffit; per se tamen non fufficiunt ad laborem hunc Herculeum perficiendum, nifi infuper accedat ratia Phyfica, quæ tanquam Nauclerus

In their application to portions of Natural Philofophy, Mathematics are, therefore, not: to be confidered as fundamental, but as inftrumental only: and the judicious philofopher will diftinguish the Phyfical Principles, whatever they may be, or wherever found, from the Mathematics operating upon them. The Motion of bodies on the surface of the earth is the phænomenon, which from experiment fupplies the Phyfical Principle;

puppi infidens, totius fpeculationis clavum teneat. Si quis igitur Palladem hanc, difficilis licet vultus, comitem et ducem nolit; nil mirum fi, latentibus alicubi fcopulis impingens, in erroris pelago naufragium fecerit. Atque hanc ego rationem exiftimo, quod tam diu formofiffima illa divarum Urania tam difficilem petentibus præbuit aurem, quod fcilicet hanc Philofophiæ partem Phyficam a rebus Aftronomicis excludentes, mediatricem illam noluerunt. Exoranda eft itaque fummoque ftudio excolenda intima hæc Aftronomiæ famula, illis qui fuaviffimo Uraniæ gremio, votis tandem potiti, conquiefcere defiderant. Quæ quidem ut mihi fit propitia, fummis ftudiorum præmiis ac meritis contendam, ut mediante illius opera fuaviffimos Dominæ fuæ vultus perfpiciam. Meos amores enim celare non poffum, nec tamen æmulos metuo. Sponfam habeat illibatam illam virginem (Aftrorum Scientiam) quicunque erit cui palmam ipfa concefferit, mihi fat erit fi vel tædam martialem nuptiis fuis præferre me dignabatur, Horrocii Opera Pofthuma, Difp. 1. cap. 2. N 3

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