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What can science tell us about the existence of God, and about the nature of God if God does exist? These are the questions Newton addresses in his most original and influential discussion of the interface between science and religion. For Newton, God's existence is beyond dispute but we can no more understand his precise nature than a blind man can understand colour.
in English
The hypothesis of Vortices is press'd with many
difficulties. That every Planet by a radius drawn to
the Sun may describe areas proportional to the times
of description, the periodic times of the several parts
of the Vortices should observe the duplicate propor
tion of their distances from the Sun. But that the
periodic times of the Planets may obtain the sesqui
plicate proportion of their distances from the Sun,
the periodic times of the parts of the Vortex ought
to be in the sesquiplicate proportion of their distan
ces. That the smaller Vortices may maintain their lesser
revolutions about Saturn, Jupiter, and other Planets,
and swim quietly and undisturb'd in the greater Vor
tex of the Sun, the periodic times of the parts of
the Sun's Vortex should be equal. But the rotation
of the Sun and Planets about their axes, which ought
to correspond with the motions of their Vortices, re
cede far from all these proportions. The motions of
the Comets are exceeding regular, are govern'd by the
same laws with the motions of the Planets, and can
by no means be accounted for by the hypothesis of
Vortices. For Comets are carry'd with very ec
centric motions through all parts of the heavens in
differently, with a freedom that is incompatible with
the notion of a Vortex.
Bodies, projected in our air, suffer no resistance but
from the air. Withdraw the air, as is done in Mr. Boyle's vacuum, and the resistance ceases. For in this
void a bit of fine down and a piece of solid gold de
scend with equal velocity. And the parity of reason
must take place in the celestial spaces above the Earth's
atmosphere; in which spaces, where there is no air to
resist their motions, all bodies will move with the
greatest freedom; and the Planets and Comets will
constantly pursue their revolutions in orbits given in
kind and position, according to the laws above ex
plain'd. But though these bodies may indeed perse
vere in their orbits by the mere laws of gravity, yet
they could by no means have at first deriv'd the re
gular position of the orbits themselves from those
laws
The six primary Planets are revolv'd about the Sun,
in circles concentric with the Sun, and with motions
directed towards the same parts and almost in the same
plane. Ten Moons are revolv'd about the Earth, Ju
piter and Saturn, in circles concentric with them, with the
same direction of motion, and nearly in the planes of the
orbits of those Planets. But it is not to be conceived that
mere mechanical causes could give birth to so many
regular motions: since the Comets range over all parts
of the heavens, in very eccentric orbits. For by
that kind of motion they pass easily through the orbs
of the Planets, and with great rapidity; and in their
aphelions, where they move the slowest, and are de
tain'd the longest, they recede to the greatest distances
from each other, and thence suffer the least disturbance
from their mutual attractions. This most beautiful
System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, could only
proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent
and powerful being. And if the fixed Stars are the cen
ters of other like systems, these being form'd by the
like wise counsel, must be all subject to the dominion of Natural Philosophy.
the same nature with the light of the Sun, and from
every system light passes into all the other systems.
And lest the systems of the fixed Stars should, by their
gravity, fall on each other mutually, he hath placed
those Systems at immense distances one from another.
This Being governs all things, not as the soul of
the world, but as Lord over all: And on account of
his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God
κρáτωρUniversal Ruler. For God is a relative word,
and has a respect to servants; and Deity is the dominion
of God, not over his own body, as those imagine who
fancy God to be the soul of the world, but over servants.
The supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely
perfect; but a being, however perfect, without domi
nion, cannot be said to be Lord God; for we say, my
God, your God, the God of Israel, the God of Gods,
and Lord of Lords; but we do not say, my Eternal,
your Eternal, the Eternal of Israel, the Eternal of Gods;
we do not say, my Infinite, or my Perfect: These are
titles which have no respect to servants. The word God usually Pocock derives the Latin word Deus from the Arabic du,
(in the oblique case di,) which signifies Lord. And in this sense
Princes are called Gods, Psal. lxxxii. ver. 6. and
Hitherto we have explain'd the phænomena of the
heavens and of our sea, by the power of Gravity, but
have not yet assign'd the cause of this power. This
is certain, that it must proceed from a cause that pene
trates to the very centers of the Sun and Planets, without suffering the least diminution of its force; that
operates, not according to the quantity of the surfaces
of the particles upon which it acts, (as mechanical
causes use to do,) but according to the quantity of the
solid matter which they contain, and propogates its
virtue on all sides, to immense distances, decreasing al
ways in the duplicate proportion of the distances. Gra
vitation towards the Sun, is made up out of the gravi
tations towards the several particles of which the body
of the Sun is compos'd; and in receding from the Sun,
decreases accurately in the duplicate proportion of the
distances, as far as the orb of Saturn, as evidently ap
pears from the quiescence of the aphelions of the Pla
nets; nay, and even to the remotest aphelions of the Co
mets, if those aphelions are also quiescent. But hither
to I have not been able to discover the cause of those
properties of gravity from phænomena, and I frame
no hypothesis. For whatever is not deduc'd from the
phænomena, is to be called an hypothesis; and hypo
theses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in expe
rimental philosophy. In this philosophy particular pro
positions are inferr'd from the phænomena, and after
wards render'd general by induction. Thus it was that
the impenetrability, the mobility, and the impulsive force
of bodies, and the laws of motion and of gravitation, were
discovered. And to us it is enough, that gravity does
really exist, and act according to laws which we
have explained, and abundantly serves to account for all
the motions of the celestial bodies, and of our sea.
And now we might add something concerning a cer
tain most subtle Spirit, which pervades and lies hid in
all gross bodies; by the force and action of which Spi
rit, the particles of bodies mutually attract one another
at near distances, and cohere, if contiguous; and elec
tric bodies operate to greater distances, as well repelling
as attracting the neighbouring corpuscles; and light is
emitted, reflected, refracted, inflected, and heats bodies;
and all sensation is excited, and the members of animal
bodies move at the command of the will, namely, by
the vibrations of this Spirit, mutually propogated along
the solid filaments of the nerves, from the outward or
gans of sense to the brain, and from the brain into the
muscles. But these are things that cannot be explain'd
in few words, nor are we furnish'd with that sufficiency
of experiments which is required to an accurate deter
mination and demonstration of the laws by which this
electric and elastic spirit operates.