interpretation is to be conducted. Let me not, however, be misunderstood, as if I meant, after having constructed a system of physics for myself, or having adopted one already constructed by the conjectures of uninspired philosophers, to force the Scriptures into the groove of that system. No: I apprehend that the Scriptures themselves contain that system; not, indeed, methodically stated, but in scattered passages, sufficiently clear and numerous to enable the humble and diligent inquirer to ascertain all that is necessary to be known, for the elucidation of that more sublime and more important science, which is the direct object of Divine revelation, and the knowledge of which is alone indispensable to human happiness. The inspired writers systematize neither in philosophy nor theology.

The solar system is a grand, magnificent, selfmoving machine, fabricated bv infinite wisdom and infinite power, for the purpose of displaying "the glory of the ALEIM," and of showing "his handy work." This great machine is furnished by its Divine Architect, like other self-moving machines of human construction, with a mainspring, or the means of perpetuating the motion or motions essential to the performance of its intended operations. This main-spring is the sun, fixed in the centre of the system, which, by its efflux and reflux, is the cause of all motion, life, and beauty, both in the universe itself, and

in all its subordinate parts. Matter therefore consists of two kinds; that which is passive, and that which is active. The earth and the other planets comprehend the former; and the etherial fluid is of the latter description.

The doctrine of gravitation, of attraction, and repulsion, or whatever other terms are used to describe the action of one material substance on another, without contact,* at least as it is stated

* Extract from a letter by Sir I. Newton to the Hon. Mr. Boyle, on the cause of Gravitation, in the fourth vol. of Bishop Horsley's edition of Sir Isaac's works.

"1. I suppose that there is diffused through all places an ætherial substance, capable of contraction or dilation, strongly elastic; and, in a word, much like air in all respects, but far more subtile.

"4. When two bodies moving towards one another, come near together, I suppose the æther between them to grow rarer than before; and the spaces of its graduated rarity to extend further from the superficies of the bodies towards one another; and this by reason of the æther, cannot move and play up and down so freely in the straight passage between the bodies, as it would before they came so near together.

"5. Now from the fourth supposition, it follows, that when two bodies, approaching one another, come so near together as to make the æther between them begin to rarify, they will begin to have a reluctance from being brought nearer together, and endeavour to recede from one another; which reluctance and endeavour will increase as they come nearer together, because thereby they cause the adjacent æther to rarify more and more but at length, when they come so near together, that the excess of pressure of the external æther, which surrounds the bodies, above that of the rarified æther which is between them, is so great as to overcome the reluctance which the bodies have from being brought together, then will that excess of

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by many modern philosophers, appears to me to be unscriptural, unphilosophical, and dangerous to true theology. The Scripture, I conceive, describes a different kind of agency in nature,— an agency that is of itself natural and intelligible. Philosophy has nothing to do with occult and metaphysical causes and effects; and the true philosophy requires that we attribute not to the creature that which belongs only to the Omnipotent. The exercise of influence without contact is peculiar to Deity. You will perceive that the

*

pressure drive them with violence together, and make them adhere strongly to one another, &c."

This is further illustrated by a diagram, and by much more to the same purpose.

* "Some desciples of the great Newton, such as Dr. Clarke, Baxter, Cheyne, and many others both French and English, contrary it seems to the last judgment of their master, have adopted the doctrine of the absolute inactivity of matter, and pretend that the great law of attraction is an immediate effort of the Divine action, which pushes all bodies to one another in a certain proportion to their masses and distances without any intervening, physical, or mechanical medium. It is not our business to show here that the great Sir Isaac does not establish this doctrine, nor despoils all material agents of active force ; this idea is entirely subversive of all natural philosophy. suffices to remark that this opinion being founded on the same principles as the Malebranchian notion, by confuting the one we have overturned the other. Ramsay's Philosophical Principles, part I. b. III. p. 269.

† Extracts from "Four Letters by Sir Is. Newton to Dr. Bentley; containing some arguments in proof of a Deity"in the same vol. of his works.

In the 2d letter Sir Is. says-" You gravity as essential and inherent to matter.

sometimes speak of Pray do not ascribe

doctrine of a vacuum* is also excluded from this view of Scripture philosophy. The fluid which occupies the universe, and in which the planets move, is considered as being the cause of motion, -both of their revolutions on their own axes, and also of their circuits round the centre.

that notion to me; for the cause of gravity is what I do not pretend to know, and therefore would take more time to consider of it."

And in the third letter he remarks" It is inconceivable that inanimate brute matter should, without the mediation of something else, which is not material, operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact; as it must do, if gravitation, in the sense of Epicurus, be essential and inherent in it. And this is one reason why I desire you would not ascribe inherent gravity to me. That gravity should be innate, inherent and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of any thing else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity, that I believe no man who had in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it. Gravity must be caused by an agent acting constantly according to certain laws; but whether this agent be material or immaterial, I have left to the consideration of my readers."

"The immense void betwixt the celestial bodies has with great impropriety been determined an absolute vacuum."

"We must remember that if the universe be connected together as one vast system, which we have every reason to believe, it is as impossible that any change can take place in any part without affecting the whole in some degree, as it is impossible to change any part of a clock or watch without in some measure affecting the whole movement." ENCYCLOP. BRIT. Art. Meteorology.

"They are not different forces therefore which retain the different planets in their respective orbits, but one force, acting by the same law upon them all. We may either conceive it as

The Hebrew word () which expresses the active part of matter, the etherial fluid, describes its office in the great machine. It is generally used in the plural number, and signifies the disposers, the triune agent by which the other parts of matter, in all their various orders, subordinately and instrumentally, move and have their being." The ancient pantheist, when he described his deity as the anima mundi* the

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an attractive force, exerted by the Sun, or as a tendency in each planet; nay, nothing hinders us from conceiving it as a force external both to sun and planets, impelling them towards the sun. It may be the influence of a stream of fluid, moving continually towards the sun. Sir Isaac Newton did not concern himself with this question, but contented himself with the discovery of the law according to which its action was exerted." Supplement to the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. Art. Astronomy. P. 39.

"Gravitation does not express a quality, but an event, a deflection, or a pressure." Id. P. 47.

* "That the antients had clear and just conceptions of some fundamental truths in physics; that they were well acquainted with the general mechanism of nature; and that, in knowledge of this kind, the earliest writers were the most intelligent and correct; are points which seem to be pretty clearly established by those who have given them diligent and impartial consideration. That their skill in the mechanical arts, in the mathematical sciences, and also, in medical knowledge, was very considerable, has been no less satisfactorily proved. But in all their philosophical systems there appears to be one general and fundamental error, that of regarding the powers of nature as the Gods of nature; or, in other words, considering the mere physical or instrumental agents of the universe as endowed with intellectual energies, and to be reverenced as divinities, or intelligent rulers of the world.

This was one fruitful source of the Gentile poly