its character, or to
any one of their most prevailing properties, or to the principall action
that distinguisht them from other beings. They made use of almost the same
artifice, to impose names upon things more expressive of their properties,
by considering them only with reference to their operations, of which they
were the immediate principles. As for the operations, themselves being not
aequally knowne, nor aequally obvious to sense they plac't the same
subordination in the terms they made use of to represent them, that Nature
hath establisht in our apprehensions and cognisances.

There being therefore nothing in the world of which they could have fram'd
a more distinct Idea, then of the _motion_ of bodies; which is obvious to
all the senses, we must not wonder if considering Locall motion as the
first and principall object of their knowledge, they afterwards gave no
names to the Operations of each being, but such as seem'd to express some
relation either to motion in generall, or to its different species, or to
some one of its dependances such as are place, figure, situation,
extention, Union and seperation, in a word to all the resemblances and
agreements that in any way or kind relye upon motion. For if Modern
Philosophy that Studies Nature by a closer application then formerly,
pretend to a clear and evident explication of Naturall effects in the
referring them all to the _Sole movement of matter_ as their true cause;
there is much more reason that in order to the giveing an account of all
that is to this day past among the Languages, we should have recours to
such terms as are expressive of motion, since it is not to be doubted but
that all others that are reducible, may be referr'd hither as to the first
principle of their signfication.

Besides motion is allow'd a far greater Scope and extent among the
Languages then in Nature for 'tis to that we referr our most refin'd and
spirituall conceptions I mean such as we frame of the operations of our
souls and the propensions of our wills, So when we say that the mind or
understanding applyes it self to think, to conceive, to discours, to
explaine, to disimbroile, to disingage a businesse, to discover a truth;
when we talke of troubles, aversions, of hurries and consternations of the
soul, to expresse such actions as are most remote from sense, we make use
of such Images as are corporeall in their first originall, although for the
most part they have lost their pr