ESSAY Ili. 373 move the arm or the tongue, may be called the natural cause of the motión of those members, for it is according to a law of na- ture, which God thecreator bas appointed ; though the influence which that volition has on that motion, be not so properly natural _ and efficacious, as tobe sufficient in and of itself ; but the efficacy rather proceeds from the almighty volition of God thus uniting the soul to an animal body,' according to these laws of his own appointment*. Of which see more afterwards. XII. It is no difficult matter to allow this account of things to be true. Concerning the influence that mind has on body, or body has on mind, and to abscribe it all to the supreme and effica- cious appointment or will of God, when great philosophers now - a -days suppose the mutual influence of bodies moving each other not to be 'so evidently the proper, native, and necessary effect of those material beings on each other, but rather of some divine appointment, or certain laws of nature which God has made. Thus we say, thatthe bowl fl in motion striking the bowl B at rest, naturally causes it to move, or produces motion in it ; al- though perhaps the motion of the bowl B more properly pro- ceeds from the efficacious and original appointment of the Crea- tor, who wills that one body should move when another strikes against it. Mr. Locke, in book II, of his Essay, chap. 23. §. 28. sup- poses the communication of motionfrom one body to another by impulse to be as hard to be accounted for the communication of motion to a body by any thoughts or volitions of the mind : And it is still more justly supposed, that Sir Isaac Newton's doctrine of the influences of attraction or gravitation which the planets have upon each other at such immense distances of empty space, must be resolved into such a law of nature or efficacious divine appointment. And yet we still use the common methods of speech, and say,, that the bowl A striking the bowl B, naturally makes it move ; thatthe sun naturally causes the planets to move or tend towards itself, and thereby keeps them in their several orbits. And in the same manner we say, the soul forms ideas naturally by its understanding or perceptive power; and it moves the limbs of the body naturally by its will : And unless we continue to use such forms of expression, which are the constant language of God and men in scripture, and in all natural and civil affairs, we shall * Note, the words natureand natural may betaken in two senses; First, they may denote an original power in matter sad mind, sufficient mutually to in6u- coce each other, arising from their very nature or essence and constitution : Now such a nutzte or natural power is denied : And yet this power maybe called natural, with regard to the constitution of man, as consisting of a soul and body united became God has appointed them' by his almighty will to act in this manner mutually on each other in their state of union, and thus he has made it a law of their nature. a a 3
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