An essay on the first principles of natural philosophy. Wherein the use of natural means, or second causes, in the oeconomy of the material world, is demonstrated from reason, experiments of various kinds, and the testimony of antiquity : in four books illustrated with copper-plates / by the Reverend William Jones.

  • Jones, William, 1726-1800.
Date:
1762
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the first principles of natural philosophy. Wherein the use of natural means, or second causes, in the oeconomy of the material world, is demonstrated from reason, experiments of various kinds, and the testimony of antiquity : in four books illustrated with copper-plates / by the Reverend William Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ^ haps ever examined with fuch a view. And in feme cafes, I fuppofe, the contrivance of an omnifcient artift may, af¬ ter all our labour, be above the reach of human obfervation; unlefs the mechanical fkill of God and man mufi: necefiarily have the fame limits. T o build a philofophy on thefe cafes is to begin at the wrong end. The only courfe that can promife any tolerable fuccefs, is to fet out with the cafes that are well underftood; and thence argue by analogy, to fuch as are more remote, and difficult of accefs. But to begin with the things that are unknown is the way to create difficulties where there were none before: and as we fhall moft probably try to make things of a piece, our ignorance there will diffufe it- felf univerfally, and give a mixture of darknefs to the know- lege we had already obtained. D R. Clarkes manner of objecting doth alfo give me a fair opportunity of turning the tables upon him; and that, as I am inclined to think, very much to the difcredit of all his reafoning. For if it be true, that he who maintains the mechanifm of the creation, is obliged in reafon to be able to explain all effe6ls in that way, and Ihew how every thing is performed mechanically ; then it muft be equally true, that he who maintains the contrary, and rejeds the notion of a general mechanifm, is obliged in reafon to fhew, that nothing is performed mechanically. For if it can be fhewn, that mechanifm prevails in any one inftance, it will lead us to conclude, that it muft prevail in every other; upon a bare prefumption, that nature has a wife author at the head of it, and is governed by conftftent laws, not by fuch as are capricious and contradictory. The wifdom of God will be uniform in its operations; and if it works with natural means in fome cafes, and we can be well affured of it, I C may