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    succession of chaos and disorder ; " during which period , we must suppose the principle which he assumes to have suspended itself . The Epicurean system rests on the assumption that certain active powers

    are inherent in matter ; an assumption which the Theist denies . Assumption and denial are , however , useless where the question must be decided by argument . It is the part of the Theist to prove first , that we know not that matter p ossesses any active powers ; and , secondly , that if it did , we know not that they are eternally and independently its own . All that we know of the question of p ower is , that certain consequents regularly follow certain antecedents , and we therefore suppose that a connexion exists between them , but of the nature of that connexion we are wholl y ignorant . It is a universally received principle , that no being can act where it does not exist ; and

    therefore , those who believe in the active powers of matter , are bound to disprove the existence of a vacuum . If the existence of a vacuum be allowed , the question occurs , how the sun and the earth can act on each other where they are not ; if it be denied , it remains to be explained how the resistance which matter offers to matter has not been sufficient , in the course of an eternity , to stop the progress of the globe through the regions of space . If a vacuum exists , the power exerted resides in an immaterial being : if a vacuum does not exist , some powers inherent in matter are in opposition to other powers—attraction to repulsion , &c . ; while it still remains to be explained how the vis inertise , which all unite in ascribing to matter , was

    originally , and is perpetually , overcome . It is natural enough that men should be dissatisfied with their ignorance of the connexion between causes and effects , and that their dissatisfaction should prompt them to interpose a something between the antecedent and the consequent , to which they give the name of power : but there is nothing in a name ; and it has never been shewn that there is more meaning in the " inherent powers" of the

    Atheistic philosophers , than in the » X < a and E % 0 pa of Aristotle . '" What is there , " says Malebranche , " which Aristotle cannot at once propose and resolve , by his fine words of genus , species , act , power , nature , form , faculties , qualities , causa per se , causa per accidens ? His followers find it very difficult to comprehend that these words signify nothing ; and that we are not in ore learned than we were before , when we have heard them tell us , in

    their best manner , that fire melts metals , because it has a solvent faculty ; and that some unfortunate epicure or glutton digests ill , because he has a weak digestion , or because the vis concoctrix does not perform * ts functions well . " DK Crombie offers a brief but satisfactory examination of the cosmogonies which have been invented under this system ; all of which are liable to the same objections , and all inconsistent with what knowledge we p ossess

    of the properties of matter . La Place ' s theory is only worthy of more consideration than the rest , from being presented with modesty and diffidence . Having assumed that matter consists of nebulous particles highly attenuated , it is very easy to declare that by one process those particles are conglomerated into planets , and by another into a comet ' s tail , and so on : but the question is , how came these particles to be nebulous ? What originated the

    various processes ? Whence proceeded the powers by which the processes were modified ? And yet La Place expressed astonishment and regret that Newton should have considered a presiding Power to have been necessary for the accomplishment of a work which attraction alone is capable of effecting . It would have been no more than reasonable to explain what attraction is , before requiring any mind to assent to its all-sufficiency .

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    148 Cromlne ' s Natural Tlieology .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/4/