PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS, &c. ESSAY I. Al fair Enquiry and Debate concerning Space, whether it be Something or Nothing, Godor a Creature. T SECT. I.The Subject explained in general. WOULD any one imagine, that so familiar an idea as that which we have of space, should be so abstruse and mysterious,so difficult and unaccountable a thing, as that it should be doubtful and undetermined to this day, among the philosophers even of this knowing age, what space is; whether it be a substance or mode, God or a creature, something or nothing. The common idea which all mankind have of it, seems to be much the same, viz. " Extension void of matter or body, and capable of receiving or containing matter or body." This space, when it is thus considered as empty, by the learned is usually called vacuum or void; when it is considered as filled with body, the learned have supposed it to be space still, and then it is called plenum or full. Whether there be a vacuum or void space is now no longer doubted among philosophers, it having been proved by Sir Isaac Newton, and others, be- yond all contradiction ; and every one agrees to it. Whether it should be called space when it is full, shall be afterwards considered. Void space is conceived by us as scattered through all the world between bodies, as interspersed through all the pores of bodies, and as reaching also beyond all the worlds that God has made and extended on all sides without bounds. And as these ideas seem plain and easy, so there is no difference between the philosopher and the ploughman in this their general and common conception or idea of it. But the grand enquiry is, what is -this space I Let us search the subject a little. Space is either something or nothing : If something, it is either a mere idea in the mind, or something existing with- out. If it exist without us, it is a substance or a mode. If a substance, it is created or increated. Let us examine all these parts distinctly. SECT. II. Is Space Something or Nothing I SURELY one would suppose that space cannot be a mere
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