...principles? As Newton later explained to Richard Bentley (1692), he wrote the Principia Mathematica with 'an eye upon such Principles as might work with considering men, for the belief of a Deity'.412 In the context of his concern to refute atheism, Newton followed More's strategy of postulating...

...1692 lecture, and Newton had obligingly replied, pointing out that he had composed Principia "with an eye upon such Principles as might work with considering men for the beliefe of a Deity & nothing can rejoyce me more than to find it usefull for that purpose." 1 Several...

...See also Monk, Bentley, n, pp. lj6ff. 10 Monk, Bentley, 1, pp. 2 5 if. 1 1 Newton informed Bentley: 'When I wrote my treatise about our System, I had...Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose.' Quoted in Monk, Bentley, 1 , p. 44. 12 Monk, Bentley, 1, p. 74. An equally...

...vapors in a monstrously rational machine. Newton opens his correspondence with Bentley by observing: "When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had...Deity; and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose" (Papers and Letters, 280). Elsewhere in the correspondence he indicates...

...development" after the first edition.27 In fact, on 10 December 1692, Newton confided to Richard Bentley, "When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had...Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."28 Similarly, in the Latin edition of the Opticks (1706), Newton declares...

...10 December 1692, Newton confided to Richard Bentley, "When 1 wrote my Treatise about our System. l had an Eye upon such Principles as might work with...Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."21 Similarly, in the Latin edition of the Opticks (1706l, Newton declares...

...unity of God's truth. It is this sensibility that informs his statement to Richard Bentley in 1692: "When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had...might work with considering Men, for the belief of a Deity."87 86 On Galileo, see James J. Bono, The Language of God and the Languages of Man: Interpreting...

...interplay of science and metaphysics. Newton, as has been previously mentioned, wrote his Principia "with an eye upon such principles as might work with considering men for the belief of a Deity" (Thayer and Randall, l953, p. 46). In the General Scholium added to the second edition of the Principia,...

...theme, and Newton's theological justification of his physics in a letter to Richard Bentley is typical: "When I wrote my treatise about our system, I had...Deity; and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."3 Similar ideas of a divine lawmaker whose statutes, once revealed, will...

...development" after the first edition.10 In fact, on l0 December l692, Newton confided to Richard Bentley, "When I wrote my Treatise about our System, I had...Deity, and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose."11 Similarly, in the Latin edition of the Opticks (l706), Newton declares...