same manner, exhibited a picture of it in which, as it is finer, and can pervade them,

miniature to us, so that, by experiments causes that of heat. Whether Sir Isaac, upon that, the other might be clearly ex- by the atmosphere pressing upon the sun, plained and illustrated.* All this is looked intended that immense fluid in Scripture upon as quite new, and peculiar to Mr. called the heavens, part of which is conHUTCHINSON, and great clamors are raised tinually going to, and part receding from against it. But what says Sir ISAAC? Why, the centre, I take not upon me to deterunder his second rule," that like effects are mine: thus much, however, may certainly o be ascribed to like causes," he tells us, be inferred from it, that he was very sensias an instance of it, and a thing universal- ble there wanted a vast pressure upon every ly known and allowed, that "the light of part of the sun's orb, to prevent the fire a culinary fire and of the sun have the from dissipating and scattering the parts of same manner of production."† If, there-it, as well as some kind or other of pabufore the light of a culinary fire be produced lum, to feed and nourish that fire, and supby a rarefaction of the air, of which there ply the place of the light sent off from is always a draught to it, this will at once thence every moment in such quantities prove Mr. HUTCHINSON's whole plan upon and diffused quaquaversum throughout the Sir ISAAC NEWTON's principles. And that world.* I have now laid before the reader the the light and heat of a culinary fire are owing to the air, Sir ISAAC himself is ex-proofs for the points I undertook to make press, when, speaking of the atmosphere out-that physics and mathematics were of the sun, he says, Opt. p. 319. "The sciences essentially different, the end of one same great weight may condense those vapors and exhalations as soon as they shall at any time begin to ascend from the sun, and make them presently fall back again into him, and by that action increase his heat, much after the manner that in our I earth the air increases the heat of a culinary fire." How can this be? How can cold air increase the heat of fire? But Sir ISAAC NEWTON Says it does; most undoubtedly, then, it does it by changing its condition from cold to hot, i. e. by going in the form of air, which, as it is so dense as not to pervade the pores, causes the sensation of cold, and coming out in that of light,

It falls not within the compass of my present design to give any farther account of the Scripture philosophy, as explained by Mr. Hutchinson, than is necessary in stating the case between him and Sir Isaac. A clear, regular, and well digested system of the whole, with the proofs and illustrations of each part (a thing much and long wanted) will I hope be laid before the public, by some one equal to the task; for the reception of which, if this imperfect sketch of things may serve in any measure to prepare the way, by removing some groundless prejudices that have obtained with regard to Sir Isaac Newton, the author will think himself amply rewarded for his pains, whatever sentence the world may otherwise please to pass upon him and it. He would not indeed disoblige the world, if it could be honestly avoided, but he will never oblige it at the the expense of truth-a resolution, which in these times it may be thought not quite so prudent to make: but he has this encouragement to it, which he begs leave likewise to recommend to the consideration of others, that he who enters the list in the cause of truth (not truth in the abstract, but the truth of God in Christ, as revealed in the Bible) fights under him, who bears inscribed on his banner I have overcome the world.

being to investigate causes, the province of the other to ascertain effects-That Sir ISAAC NEWTON'S Principia was entirely con

in me to stop him, only while I inform him, that here use that word for that subtle fluid which proceeds continually from the sun and our culinary and other focuses upon earth, whether it be visible or not; since it is notorious by experiment, that this great and glorious agent in nature exerts itself with great force and vigor in its other manifold operations, when, for reasons obvious enough to the philosopher, it does not affect the eye in that particular manner which produces the sensation of

vision.

*There is a passage in his Optics, in which he seems to have had a notion, that the heavens were filled with two agents, counteracting each other, as Mr. Hutchinson supposes the light and air to do, though he was greatly at a loss how to conceive the manner of their operation. P. 339. "It is as difficult to explain by these hypotheses, how rays can be alternately in fits of easy reflection and easy transmission; unless perhaps one might suppose that there are in all space two ethereal vibrating mediums, and that the vibrations of one of them constitute light, and the vibrations of the other are swifter, and as often as they overtake the vibrations of the first, put them into those fits. But how two ethers can be diffused through all space, one of which acts upon the other, and by consequence is re-acted upon, without retarding, shattering, dispersing, and confounding one another's motion, is inconceivable.". Had this great man only considered his own instance of a culinary fire a little closer, and observed how the action and re-action of the air going in and the light coming out were so far from retarding, shattering, dispersing, and confounding one another's motions that they were the very means of preserving them, and then applied this to the sun and the two ethers in the heavens, he had succeeded in causes as well as effects, and had been perhaps the greatest philosopher in the world. But since we cannot have this from a Newton, why should we disdain to take it from a Let the serious and unprejudiced

† Princip. lib. iii, reg. ii. p. 357. Pemb. p. 24. That there may be no dispute raised about the Hutchinson? word light, the reader will not think it impertinent | lay this to heart.

versant upon the latter, and that what he | TON and the whole world. This passes as offered occasionally concerning the former current and universal as the other, and with was proposed under the form of conjectures just the same reason; for it is amazing to and queries only, given as hints for future philosophers to proceed upon, and inquire farther into-After which I have likewise endeavored to show in brief, that Mr. HUTCHINSON has inquired farther into them, and (if his scheme holds) even demonstrated those conjectures to have been, as far as they went, true and right. In doing this, I have made the extracts faithfully, and I hope reasoned fairly upon them when made. The reader will now indulge me in one reflection upon the whole.

think how few there are, amongst those who are the loudest against him, that have ever read his books, or know what he says upon any one subject. For did they but examine into the merits of the cause, they would see, that, instead of being an enemy to mathematical demonstration, few people had a greater regard for the mathematics, in their proper place, though he might blame others for putting them in one for which they never were designed; and it was a constant rule he observed himself, and a constant piece of advice he gave to others, never to believe without proper evidence. And as to the charge of whim and novelty, it is the last one should have expected to have heard: I mean with regard to his philosophy; for as to his theology,* it is not before me now. His opinion, that there is a subtle agent, which performs the operations of nature, has been universally held, by all philosophers, from THALES to Sir ISAAC NEWTON (none disputing the being of such an agent, but whether it were divine or material;) and though it has been sometimes thought he rejected it, and did the business without, yet from his own words I think it has been demonstrated, that he looked upon it as absolutely necessary to explain and account for the phenomena of the universe, and left it to be inquired after, as the main-spring of all philosophy. Its substance, mechanism, and mode of acting indeed puzzled them all. And this Mr. HUTCHINSON has only endeavored to show from the Bible, as well as to prove that the Scripture account, has the

How unreasonable a thing then is it, and how destructive has it always proved to the cause of truth, to take a prejudice either for or against a thing, without having consulted and weighed the evidence by which it is supported! We have an instance of both these in the case before us. In the first place, the prejudice for Sir ISAAC has been so great that it has destroyed the intent of his undertaking, and his books have been made a means of hindering that knowledge which they were intended to promote. It is a notion every child im bibes almost with his mother's milk, that Sir ISAAC NEWTON has carried philosophy to the highest pitch it is capable of being carried, and established a system of physics upon the solid basis of mathematical demonstration. This is taken for granted, and grows up with us as a first principle, nor is there one in ten thousand that ever examines his writings to see whether it really is so or not. The natural consequence of this is, that if any author publishes farther discoveries which are supposed to differ from Sir ISAAC, be his pretences ever so plausible and specious, I cannot but wish this little rude attempt of he is not allowed a hearing But now mine upon the philosophy, may give a hint to some when Sir ISAAC's writings come to be pe-abler head and pen, to lay before the world a state rused, we find all this to be a vulgar error. Nothing, as it should seem, was ever less in his thoughts, than demonstrating the physical causes of nature by the mathematics. He owns an entire ignorace of them, and for that reason throws all he has to offer concerning them into queries only, earnestly desiring those who come after to inquire farther, and make a proper use of his experiments upon phenomena, towards settling what it is that produces them. On the other hand, the tide of prejudice runs as high now against Mr. HUTCHINSON. He is represented as a violent enemy to mathematical demonstration, and a broacher of new and enthusiastic whims never heard of before, in opposition to Sir ISAAC NEW-supposed?) he has built upon it.

of that matter likewise.

A proper distinction might then be made between those things in Mr. Hutchinson's writings which are really new and of his own manufacture, and those which are only thought to be so. The former must be received or rejected, as they shall, upon a strict scrutiny and examination, be found to deserve; but those which were sufficiently proved and established in former ages, must still continue so, notwithstanding the use he may chance to make of them. Whereas, upon the present plan of condemning indiscriminately, and at a venture, all he says upon every subject, we may be in danger, amidst that variety he handles, of having some of the greatest and most important articles of our faith, held by the church of Christ in all ages from Adam to the present times, denied, because Mr. Hutchinson maintains them, and the foundation overset, by too furiously and precipitately throwing down the stubble it is supposed (and will it not be taken amiss, if I add. only

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