Section the second.
Of the Nature of Laws in general.
Law, in it’s moſt general and comprehenſive ſenſe, ſignifies a rule of action; and is applied indiſcriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we ſay, the laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, or mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. And it is that rule of action, which is preſcribed by ſome ſuperior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.
Thus when the ſupreme being formed the univerſe, and created matter out of nothing, he impreſſed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would ceaſe to be. When he put that matter into motion, he eſtabliſhed certain laws of motion, to which all moveable bodies muſt conform. And, to deſcend from the greatest operations to the ſmalleſt, when a workman forms a clock, or other piece of mechaniſm, he eſtabliſhes at his own pleaſure certain arbitrary laws for it’s direction; as that the hand ſhall deſcribe a given ſpace in a given time; to which law as long as the work conforms, ſo long it continues in perfection, and anſwers the end of it’s formation.
If we farther advance, from mere inactive matter to vegetable and animal life, we ſhall find them ſtill governed by laws; more numerous indeed, but equally fixed and invariable. The whole progreſs of plants, from the ſeed to the root, and from thence to the ſeed again;—the method of animal nutrition, digeſtion,
