Watts - BX5200 .W3 1813 v.8

7,1, CfíAPTPR X. 5bt 3. Causes are unztocal, `as when a lion produces a young lion ; when a fountain of water sends forth a stream of water ; or when money being lent gains money by interest; but they are equivocal when a man writes a book, when a root produces a. stalk and leaves, or when money buys land. In the three first the effect is of the same nature with thecause ; in the three last it is diffirent. 4. Again Causes are sole or solitary, as when a horse aloneb eats a gallon of corn ; or social, when a hen and chickens share it among them. So a pestilence is a solitary cause when it des- troys a city ; but when an army trade up of officersand soldiers conquer it, these are social causes. Social causes are either co- ordinate as common soldiers il, fight a battle, or subordinate, as the several degrees of officers, viz. colonels, captains, lieutenants, and the common soldiers under them.- Among subordinate causes we sometimes consi- - der thefirst,-the last and the intermediate ; whether one or more. Nóte, Lì causes 'acting by a necessary subordination the cause of a cause may be justly deemed the cause of the effect. The man who 'tlì"roWs in the firebrand, which kindles the gun- powder, which Wits up a ship, is the cause of the death of the sailors. Note, In subordinate causes you inuit at last come to a first cause, for there is no infinite or endless subordination of causes. Query, If a round chain of 'Many links were used to bind a vessel of 1ï iior instead of a hóop, is not each link subordinate to its neighl u'r in their influence? And which of all these is the first cause ? Ans. These are all 'co-ordinate and not subor- dinate causes ; tlioitgli they are dependent; yet it is on each other mutually, and they are all equally dependent. 5. Yet further, causes in general may be divided into total and partial. An absolutely total cause is much the same as a sole cause : But a cause may be total in its oven kind, though many other causes concur to produce the effect. Alexander the king, Apelles the painter, his idea, his hand, and his pencil, are each a total cattle of Alexander's picture, for each of these is single and alone in their distinct influences : But the several colours are partial causes, for they have all the saine influence: and so arc the fingers of the painter, for they alljoin their service in guiding his pencil. 6. Causes are also distinguished into 'physical, which work by natural influence ; and moral, which work by persuasion. 7. A cause is called ordinary, when it works according to the usttal course of nature, as when animals produce their own kind : It is extraordinary or miraculous, as when the rod of Moses produced swarms of lice in Egypt. l'F yl

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