Passing over these few obstacles in the outset, •let us suppose the atoms bi•ought together, by whatever means, so as to form a chaos. Then, according to Epicurus, those atoms which were lightest, mounted up and formed the air, the heavens, and the stars ; whilst the more sluggish subsided, and formed the earth in which we live. Thus, these atoms are the handiest things in the world: at one time they descend necessarily, by the power of gravity, to form a chaos ; and they obey no less readily the necessity of the system-maker, and mount at the word of command to form the lights of heaven.
But it surely cannot be necessary to pursue this nonsense farther, nor to attempt a serious refutation of what carries in its fact such glaring' absurdity. The radical error of Epicurus, and of many others of the ancient philosophers, consisted in supposing mo tion to be essential to matter, and matter to be eter nal. No fact in physical science is better ascertained, than the absolute inertia of matter, and its indifference as to motion or rest : and it is an axiom of natural philosophy, that matter will continue for ever in an uniform state of motion or rest, unless affected by ex• ternal causes. Were motion essential to matter, we could not conceive matter to exist without it. Ab stract from matter any of its general allowed proper ties, such as solidity, extension, divisibility, &c. and you destroy the idea of it altogether : for it is impos sible to form a conception of substance without these qualities. But abstract motion from it, and your con
ception of it will be as complete as ever. It is ex pected the reader will distinguish between motion and mobility, the latter being one of the general properties of matter. And, with regard to the opinion that matter is eternal, though it was adopted by all the ancients, and also by some among the moderns, yet we have no hesitation in affirming, that it is equally ill-founded with that which we have been refuting. For if matter is .eternal, then it is also self•existent, infinite, and immutable, and excludes the very possi bility of Deity, which even an atheist would scarcely venture to affirm. It is evident, however; that there cannot be two different substances in existence, each ' of them eternal, self-existent, independent, and un changeable. Whether then shall we acknowledge as the eternal principle, matter, which is motionless, in ert, and incapable of acting with intelligence, or that spirit which we denominate God, and which can be demonstrated to be possessed of power, intelligence, and goodness ? The question scarcely requires an answer. There can be only one eternal Being, and that Being is God, from whom matter receives its existence, motions, forms, and modifications. For a fuller demonstration of this subject, see Cudworth's Intellect. Syst. and the articles MATTER, META