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ings and Corporeal; but seeing 'tis only the Matenal
World that hath been the subject of our Discourse,
Nature, as to that, may be defin'd, The Powers of
Matter, with the Laws establisht for their action and
conduct. Seeing also Matter hath no action, whether from it self, or imprest upon it, but Motion, as
to the Corporeal World Nature is no more than The
powers and capacities of Matter, with the Laws that
govern the Motions of it. And this definition is so
plain and easie, that, I believe, all parties will agree
in it; There will also be no great controversie what
these Laws are, As that one part of Matter cannot
penetrate another, nor be in several places at once;
That the greater Body overcomes the less, and the
swifter the slower; That all Motion is in a right line,
till something obstruct it or divert it; which are
points little disputed as to the matter of fact; but the
points concerning which the controversie ariseth, and
which are to lead us to the Author of Nature, are
these, Who or what is the Author of these Laws? of
this Motion? and even of Matter it self; and of all
those modes and forms of it which we see in Nature?
The Question useth chiefly to be put concerning
Motion, how it came into the World; what the first
Source of it is, or how Matter came at first to be
mov'd? For the simple notion of Matter, not divided
into parts, nor diversified, doth not imply Motion,
but Extension only; 'Tis true, from Extension there
necessarily follows mobility, or a capacity of being
mov'd by an External power, but not actual or necessary Motion springing from it self. For dimensions,
or length, breadth, and depth, which is the Idea of
Matter, or of a Body, do no way include local Motion, or translation of parts; on the contrary, we do
more easily and naturally conceive simple Extension
as a thing steddy and fixt, and if we conceive Motion
in it, or in its parts, we must superadd something to
our first thought, and something that does not flow
from Extension. As when we conceive a Figure, a
Triangle, Square, or any other, we naturally conceive it fixt or quiescent, and if afterwards we ima
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