The second division of inquiry,--that which relates to the successions of phenomena in time,--we found, however, to have a different origin; since the utmost perfection of our mere senses could show us only what _is_, at the moment of perception, not what _has been_, nor what _will be_; and there is nothing in any qualities of bodies perceived by us, which, without experience, could enable us to predict the changes that are to occur in them. The foundation of all inquiry, with respect to phenomena as successive, we found to be that most important law, or original tendency, of our nature, in consequence of which we not merely perceive the changes exhibited to us at one particular moment, but from this perception, are led irresistibly to believe, that similar changes _have_ constantly taken place, in all similar circumstances, and _will_ constantly take place, as often as the future circumstances shall be exactly similar to the present. We hence consider events, not as casually antecedent and consequent, but as invariably antecedent and consequent,--or, in other words, as causes and effects; and we give the name of _power_ to this permanent relation of the invariable antecedent to its invariable consequent. The powers of substances, then, concerning which so many vague, and confused, and mysterious notions prevail, are only another name for the substances themselves, in relation to other substances,--not any thing separate from them and intermediate,--as the _form_ of a body, concerning which too, for many ages, notions as vague and mysterious prevailed, is not any thing different from the body, but is only the body itself, considered according to the relative position of its elements. Form is the relation of immediate proximity, which bodies bear to each other in _space_;--power is the relation of immediate and uniform proximity, which events bear to each other in _time_; and the relation, far from being different, as is commonly supposed, when applied to matter and to spirit, is precisely the same in kind, whether the events, of which we think, be material or immaterial. It is of invariable antecedence that we speak alike in both cases, and of invariable antecedence only. When we say, that a magnet has the power of attracting iron, we mean only, that a magnet cannot be brought near iron, without the instant motion of the iron towards it. When we say, in treating of _mental_ influence, that man, in the ordinary circumstances of health, and when free from any foreign restraint, has the power of moving his hand, we mean only, that, in these circumstances, he cannot will to move his hand, without its consequent motion. When we speak of the omnipotence of the Supreme of Beings,--who is the fountain of all power, as he is the fountain of all existence,--we mean only, that the universe arose at his command, as its instant consequence, and that whatever he _wills_ to exist or perish, exists, or is no more.