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ESSAY VII.
ment or Consciousness of Power within ourselves, when we give rise to animal Motion, or apply our Limbs to their proper Use and Office. That their Motion follows the Command of the Will is a Matter of common Experience, like other natural Events: But the Power or Energy, by which this is effected, like that in other natural Events, is unknown and inconceivable[1].
Shall we then assert, that we are conscious of a Power or Energy in our own Minds, when, by an Act or Command of our Will, we raise up a new Idea, fix the Mind to a Contemplation of it, turn it on allSides,
- ↑ It may be pretended, that the Resistance, which we meet with in Bodies, obliging us frequently to exert our Force, and call up all our Power; this gives us the Idea of Force and Power. 'Tis this Nisus or strong Endeavour, of which we are conscious, that is the original Impression, from which this Idea is copy'd. But, first, we attribute Power to a vast Number of Objects, where we never can suppose this Resistance or Exertion of Power to take place: To the supreme Being, who never meets with any Resistance; to the Mind in its Command over our Ideas and Limbs, in common Thinking and Motion, where the Effect follows immediately upon the Will, without any Exertion or summoning up of Force; to inanimate Matter, which is not capable of this Sentiment. Secondly, This Sentiment of an Endeavour to overcome Resistance has no known Connexion with any Event: What follows it, we know by Experience, but could not know a priori.
