another case. Let two balls, suspended on strings, be
equally, or, to use the technical term, _positively_ electrified. Bring
them within a certain distance, and they will repel each other. Let the
electric fluid be extracted from one, and the other will attract it.
Before, they were as enemies; now they embrace as friends. The magnet
furnishes the most striking proof in favor of the theory we are laboring
to establish. Let one of sufficient power be let down within the proper
distance, it will overcome the power of gravitation, and _attract_ the
heavy steel to itself. What is the cause of this wonderful fact? Who can
account for it? Who can trace out the hidden cause; the "_primum
mobile_" of the Ptolmaic philosophy--the secret spring of motion? But
who will dare deny that such effects do exist, and that they are
produced by an efficient cause? Or who will descend into the still more
dark and perplexing mazes of neuter verb grammars, and deny that matter
has such a power to act?

These instances will suffice to show you what we mean when we say,
_every thing acts according to the ability God has given it to act_. I
might go into a more minute examination of the properties of matter,
affinity, hardness, weight, size, color, form, mobility, &c., which even
old grammars will allow it to _possess_; but I shall leave that work
for you to perform at your leisure.

Whoever has any doubts remaining in reference to the abilities of all
things to _produce_, _continue_, or _prevent_ motion, will do well to
consult the prince of philosophers, Sir Isaac Newton, who, after
Gallileo, has treated largely upon the laws of motion. He asserts as a
fact, full in illustration of the principles I am laboring to establish,
that in ascending a hill, the trace rope pulls the horse back as much as
he draws that forward, only the horse overcomes the resistance of the
load, and moves it up the hill. On the old systems, no power would be
requisite to move the load, for it could oppose no resistance to the
horse; and the small child could move it with as much ease as the strong
team.

Who has not an acquaintance sufficiently extensive to know these things?
I can not believe there is a person present, who does not fully
comprehend my meaning, and discover the correctness of the ground I have
assumed. And it should be borne in mind, that no collection or
arrangement of words can be composed into a sentence, which do not
obtain their meaning from