The Hidden Truth of Creation Newton's Method of Fluxions PDF

The British Society for the History of Science
The Hidden Truth of Creation: Newton's Method of Fluxions

Author(s): Ayval Ramati
Source: The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 2001), pp. 417-438
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The British Society for the History of Science
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BJHS, 2001, 34, 417-438
The hidden truth of creation: Newton's method

of fluxions
AYVAL
RAMATI*
Abstract. Throughout his life, Newton searched for the machinery through which God creates,
designs and sustains the world. He believed that the Creator is a God of Dominion who
continuously preserves His creation through secondary mechanical causes or through direct,
voluntary actions. God periodically intervenes in order to restore the pure and divine state of
creation, deteriorated due to material interactions in a natural process of decay. The restoration,
whether through matter or through chosen souls, is pure and simple, flowing equably along God's
eternal duration. As time passes, a process of decay and corruption causes these pure states to
deviate from the original divine path and they gradually begin to flow along distorted and
distracted ways. Newton's youthful method of fluxions, though dealing with abstract
mathematics, has a crucial role in revealing true knowledge about the God of creation and
sustenance. The mathematical method captures and reveals the most fundamental truth about the
mechanism of perception and the natural decline of all processes in Nature. This simple method
is analogous to the simple creed, which God reinstills throughout history in religious founders and
prophets assisting humans to worship God properly.
The search for truth

'It is, in Newton's belief, in the unity of Truth', writes the late Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs,
'guaranteed by the unity and majesty of God, that one may find a way to reunite his many
brilliant facets, which however well polished, now remain incomplete fragments'.'
Newton believed that the Truth can be uncovered only by 'a remnant, a few scattered
persons which God has chosen, such as without being led by interest, education, or humane
authorities can set themselves sincerely & earnestly to search after [it]'.2 Such a 'Truth is
*
Department of History, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.

1 Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, The Janus Faces of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought, Cambridge,
1991, 18, 247; idem, 'Newton as alchemist and theologian', in Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (ed. N. J. W.
Thrower), Berkeley, 1990, 129-40. On the unity of Newton's thought, see also J. E. McGuire and P. M. Rattansi,
'Newton and the pipes of Pan', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London (1966), 21, 108-43.
2 Newton, 'Treatise on the apocalypse', Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Yahuda MS 1,
fol. 1, cited in Frank E. Manuel, The Religion of Isaac Newton, Oxford, 1974, 120, and also in James E. Force,
'Newton's "sleeping argument" and the Newtonian synthesis of science and religion', in Standing on the
Shoulders of Giants (ed. N. J. W. Thrower), Berkeley, 1990, 118-19. On Newton's view on the chosen remnant,
see also Matania Z. Kochavi, 'One prophet interprets another: Sir Isaac Newton and Daniel', in The Books of
Nature and Scripture:Recent Essays on Natural Philosophy, Theology, and Biblical Criticism in the Netberlands
of Spinoza's Time and the British Isles of Newton's Time (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1994,
105-22; Stephen D. Snobelen, '"God of Gods, and Lord of Lords"; the theology of Isaac Newton's general
scholium to the Principia', forthcoming in Osiris, 2001; Robert Markley, 'Newton, corruption, and the tradition
of universal history', in Newton and Religion: Context, Nature, and Influence (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin),

418
Ayval Ramati
ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things'.' But
of what does this simple Truth consist for Newton? This paper argues that Newton's
youthful method of fluxions, though dealing with abstract mathematics, has a crucial role
in revealing the true simple knowledge about the God of creation and sustenance. The
mathematical method captures and reveals the most fundamental and simple truth about
the mechanism of perception and the natural decline of all processes in Nature. This simple
method is analogous to the simple creed, which God reinstills throughout history in
religious founders and prophets assisting humans to worship God properly.
Scholars who have classified Newton's works in two separate categories, scientific and
esoteric, miss the richness and depth of this pious search for the simple divine Truth. 'The
theory of two Newtons', writes David Castillejo, 'has to be discarded', because though
Newton's 'attention is multiple, not linear, his system is absolutely unitary'.' Newton
pursued the Truth hidden in Nature (physics and alchemy), in Scripture,in prophecy and
in the actions of Providence in human history. In all of these diverse fields a common zeal
and theme appear - a quest for the simple machinerythrough which God creates, governs,
sustains and replenishescreation. This search was not for the sake of intellectual pleasure
alone, but was a courageous and thought-provoking undertaking to reveal God's hidden
work in creation and His ways of sustaining both Nature and world history.
'It is clear', writes Richard H. Popkin, 'that Newton held that God was the creator,
designer and sustainerof the world'. Newton believed that the Bible was 'the way God has
communicated to us [truth] in words, just as Nature is God's communication in things'.
Yet both the 'natural and verbal messages require tremendous effort, insight, and pious
attention to understand [them]'.' Or, as Richard S. Westfall puts it, 'the correspondence
of prophecy with fact demonstrated [for Newton] the dominion of God, a dominion
exercised over human history even as it exercised over the natural world'.' The Bible, for
Newton, was 'not a revelation of mysteries beyond human reason, ... but an historical
account of God's dominion, meant to demonstrate his omnipotent power to men, as
Nature demonstrates his infinite wisdom'.'
Dordrecht, 1999, 121-45, 122, 128-9; Richard S. Westfall, Never at Rest, Cambridge, 1998, 325. For a more
delicate understanding of the remnant see Stephen Snobelen, 'Isaac Newton, heretic: the strategies of a
Nicodemite', BJHS (1999), 32, 381-419; Scott Mandelbrote, 'Isaac Newton and Thomas Burnet: biblical criticism
and the crisis of late seventeenth-centuryEngland', in The Books of Nature (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin),
Dordrecht, 1994, 149-78, 158; Scott Mandelbrote, '"A duty of the greatest moment": Isaac Newton and the
writing of biblical criticism', BJHS (1993), 26, 281-302, 289.
3 Newton, Rules for Methodizing the Apocalypse, Yahuda MS 1.1, reprinted in Frank E. Manuel, The
Religion of Isaac Newton, Oxford, 1974, 120. On the deep implications of notion of simplicity for his natural
philosophy and interpretations of prophecy, see James E. Force, 'Newton's God of dominion: the unity of
Newton's theological, scientific, and political thought', in Essays on the Context, Nature, and Influenceof Isaac
Newton's Theology (ed. J. E. Force and R. H. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1990, 75-102; and Snobelen, 'God of Gods',
op. cit. (2).
4 David Castillejo, The Expanding Force in Newton's Cosmos, Madrid, 1981, 15, 78.
5 Richard H. Popkin, 'Newton's biblical theology and his theological physics', in Newton's Scientific and
Philosophical Legacy (ed. P. B. Scheurerand G. Debrock), Dordrecht, 1988, 91.
6 Westfall, op. cit. (2), 329. On the connection between Newton's theology and natural philosophy see also
Richard S. Westfall, 'Newton's theological manuscripts', in ContemporaryNewtonian Research (ed. Z. Bechler),
Reidel, 1982, 129-43.
7 Westfall, op. cit. (6), 138.

Newton's method of fluxions
419
JamesE. Forceaddsto this dual aspectof Truth,expressedin Natureand in Scripture,

that'Newton'sthoughtas a wholepresentsa systematicunityof startlingcoherence,[and]
its uniquelyintegratedquality,is his conceptionof the natureof
the key to understanding
the LordGod of Dominion'.Indeed,Newton's'extremelyvoluntaristicnotionof the Lord
God of Israel,a God of total powerand absolute"dominion",affectseveryaspectof his
metaphysicsincludinghis approachto a scientificunderstandingof Nature'.8 All of
Newton's studiescontributeto the sametruthregardingthe dominionof the 'Lord and
Master'over all aspectsof creation,because'truly for Newton, naturalphilosophyand
religionare indeedsynthesizedin a most "holy alliance"'.9 Furthermore,
the idea which
lies behind all secretsof creation,writes Newton, is that 'God, the wisest of beings
require[s]of us to be celebratednot so muchfor his essenceas for his actions,the creating,
preserving,andgoverningof all thingsaccordingto his goodwill andpleasure.0 ThisGod
of Dominion creates the world and then continuouslypreservescreation through
secondarymechanicalcausesor through'extraordinary,directvoluntaryinterpositionof
his will'. God firstcreatedmatter,then 'install[ed]the laws whichregulateit, continually
supervis[ing]the maintenanceand repairof those laws, and occasionallysuspend[ing]
them'.1"As time passes the originaldivine order declinesdue to materialfriction and
interactions(whichcauseloss of motionin the materialworld)andthe indulgenceof souls
in idolatry (which remove humanityfrom its direct connectionwith the Lord and
Master).12God thenperiodicallyrepairsand restoresthe originalpureand divinestateof
creationwith the assistanceof materialagents,like comets,13and messengersouls (as will
be discussedbelow). This process of deteriorationof the state of the world is better
exemplifiedin world history than in Nature though the same process occurs in both
spheres.
Oneof Newton's'centraltheologicalconcernsthroughouthis life [was]to combatwhat
he callsidolatry'.Accordingto Force,'worshippinganythingbutthe LordGodof trueand
8 James E. Force, 'Newton, the Lord God of Israel and knowledge of nature', in Jewish Christians and
Christian Jews: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (ed. Richard H. Popkin and G. M. Weiner),
Dordrecht, 1994, 131-58, 133, 132. See also Force, op. cit. (3), 75-102; James E. Force, 'The nature of Newton's
"holy alliance" between science and religion: from the scientific revolution to Newton (and back again)', in
Rethinking the Scientific Revolution (ed. Margaret J. Osler), Cambridge, 2000, 247-70; James E. Force, 'Samuel
Clarke's four categories of deism, Isaac Newton and the Bible', in Skepticism in the History of Philosophy (ed.
R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1996, 53-74.
9 Force, op. cit. (3), 151.
10 Newton, Yahuda MS 21, fol. 1 recto, cited in Force, op. cit. (3), 85. Emphasis in Force.
11 Force, op. cit. (3), 87, 91. On the historical perspective of the natural theology of God's dominion see
Michael Ben-Chaim, 'The discovery of natural goods: Newton's vocation as an "experimental philosopher"',
BJHS (this issue).
12 It is difficult to assess whether Newton connected the corruption of the material world with the idolatry of
humanity. This author maintains that Newton's work in alchemy suggests that he did link both processes
believing that the corrupted spiritual stage of idolatry bears influence upon the stage of material corruption. See
Ayval Ramati, 'Newton on alchemy and the sacrificialfire of the pristine religion', work in process. Nonetheless,
as far as this paper goes the analogy of the process of corruption of the two realms need not be causally connected.
13 On this issue, see SaraSchechnerGenuth, 'Newton and the ongoing teleological role of comets', in Standing
on the Shoulders of Giants (ed. N. J. W. Thrower), Berkeley, 1990, 299-311; Simon Schaffer, 'Comets & idols:
Newton's cosmology and political theology', in Action and Reaction: Proceedings of a Symposium to
Commemorate the Tercentenaryof Newton's Principia (ed. P. Theerman and A. Seeff), London, 1992, 206-31.

420
Ayval Ramati
supreme dominion lessens the absolute nature of God's dominion and constitutes
idolatry'.14 Newton's research concentrated on all the examples he could find of idolatry
both from the classical world and from the period before Christ."5He believed that 'God
revealed a true, simple religion to Adam, which consisted of two elements: love of God and
love of man'. According to Matt Goldish,
thesewerenot nebulousconceptions,but they ratherinvolvedspecificcommandments,
such as
not worshippingfalse gods, or the Devil, not lusting after materialachievement,and not
quarrelingovermetaphysical
pointswhichdo not bearon this simplecreed.Alongwith this Urreligion, God also revealedcertainwisdoms of naturalphilosophy,which were to remain
independentof the two essentialreligiouscommandments.16
This ur-religion was a Vestal religion that has left its traces in the record of all known
civilizations. The pure worship of God was 'performed in Vestal temples (prytanea)which
were designed as microcosms centred around a holy fire'." According to Robert Iliffe, this
Vestal religion had an intimate connection with theology and natural philosophy since
'men were supposed to worship their God by the study of "'theframe of the world ". Thus
all over the learned world, worship was organized by the local equivalent of the priest'."
Noah and his s-onspropagated this worship but soon the original worship was corrupted
in Egypt and elsewhere into an idolatrous hero and ancestor worship. Noah's descendants
were first 'idolized by their people as gods and ultimately identified with stars, planets,
terrestrial elements, and mythological creatures recognized through various symbols'."
This state of deteriorationdid not last for long. In merit of his recognition of the true God,
Abraham was vouchsafed another opportunity to restore the right religion, 'but it was
constantly tainted by outside influences, until God sent Moses to teach [once again] the
correct Noachide worship to the Jews'.
Following this, the Old Testament became a story of corruption of the same simple
religion through which the Jews 'repeatedly fell to the influence of surroundingnations'
contaminated worship, for which they were punished by exile'. Hebrew prophets kept
restoring the Truth since they were the chosen people. Nonetheless, in the long run the
Jews did not follow the messages given to them by prophets so 'Jesus came as a prophet
14 Force, op. cit. (3), 80; see also Markley, op. cit. (2), 122-3.
15 Rob Iliffe, 'Those "whose business it is to cavill": Newton's anti-catholicism', in Newton and Religion:
Context, Nature, and Influence (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1999, 97-121, 123.
16 Matt Goldish, Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton, Dordrecht, 1998, 11-12.
17 Matt Goldish, 'Newton on kabbalah', in The Books of Nature and Scripture: Recent Essays on Natural
Philosophy, Theology, and Biblical Criticism in the Netherlands of Spinoza's Time and the British Isles of
Newton's Time (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1994, 89-103, 92. For a precise and short account of
the history of the original religion see Westfall, op. cit. (6); a longer account on this history appears in Kenneth
Knoespel, 'Interpretive strategies in Newton's Theologiae Gentilis Origines Philosphiae', in Newton and
Religion: Context, Nature, and Influence (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1999, 193-4.
18 Robert Iliffe, ' "Is he like other men?" The meaning of the PrincipiaMathematica, and the author as idol',
in Culture and Society in the Stuart Restoration (ed. Gerald Maclean), Camnbridge,1995, 165, 166, 167. On the
Vestal religion see also James E. Force, 'Samuel Clarke's four categories of deism', op. cit. (8), 56-67; James E.
Force, 'Newton, the "Ancients ", and the " Moderns" ', in Newton and Religion: Context, Nature, and Influence
(ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1999, 237-59, 253-4.
19 Force, op. cit. (8), 57.

421
to restore the correct religion, whose essential tenets, love of God and fellowman, are the
same in Christianityand Judaism'.20 Following Christ'smessage, the history of Christianity
is described by Newton in a similar pattern of corruption through idolatry, reinstillation
of some of the truth of the simple creed of Noachide worship, followed once again by
corruption, and once again instillation and corruption. 'It is only in the Last Times',
Goldish argues, 'the times when Newton lived, that God granted the tools of the scientific
method to certain [wise] men, in order that they might reveal the workings of Providence
in history which are encoded alreadyin the prophets, mainly in Moses' warning and Daniel
and the book of Revelation'.21
Nonetheless, this simple Truth encoded in prophecy and in Nature was to be revealed
and discovered only by a chosen remnant.22This kind of interpretation of prophecy 'was
conditional on a spiritualcapability and, hence, [on] the nature of the faith of the exegete'.
'Newton developed a sense of chosenness', argues Matania Z. Kochavi, 'owing to his
scientific understanding, and employed [this] knowledge in the process of interpreting'
prophecy.23Even in his historical writings, writes Robert Markley, 'Newton sketches a
fragmentaryhistory of the Fall into idolatry and offers at least glimpses of his program for
reinvigorating a corrupt world: religious purity, techno-scientific knowledge, and
dedication of a handful of individuals committed to demonstrating scientifically,
theologically and historically the interlocking principles that can sustain an unsullied
faith. '24
In short, we see that Newton's multi-faceted work revealed a most simple Truth
regardingthe work of Providencein world history. From the beginning of creation, as time
passes, a process of decay and corruption in humanity causes the original pure Vestal
religion (as well as all the following acts of restoration) to deviate from the original divine
path of simplicity and truth and gradually begin to flow along distorted and distracted
ways, which Newton identifieswith idolatry. Thus as we move in world history away from
acts of restoration of the original pure worship of the Lord and Master of creation, we find
that God's simple truth becomes distorted, confused and complicated. Nevertheless,
throughout human and natural history, in all of God's acts of restoration the same original
truth is reinstilled as necessitated by the corruption of the world system. The new
restoration in turn becomes corrupted, and a new reinstillation of Truth is needed. This
process of reinstilling a purer and more spiritual state for the world, later distracted by a
natural process of decay, can be observed in the world history of humanity as well as in
the history of the material world. Without God's Dominion deterioration and corruption
would have destroyed humanity and the material world long ago. Indeed, God needs to
replenish the solar system with comets all along; otherwise the solar system would
collapse.
20 Matt Goldish, 'Newton on kabbalah', in The Books of Nature and Scripture: Recent Essays on Natural
Philosophy, Theology, and Biblical Criticism in the Netherlands of Spinoza's Time and the British Isles of
Newton's Time (ed. J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1994, 89-103, 92.
21 Matt Goldish, op. cit. (16), 11-12.
22 On Newton and the remnant class, see note (2).
23 Matania Z. Kochavi, op. cit. (2), 105-23, 105, 118.
24 Markley, op. cit. (2), 123. On this issue, see also Westfall, op. cit. (6), 138.

422
Ayval Ramati
Newton gives us a clear indication of his unique role in the process of reinstilling a lost
Truth:
Havingsearched& by the graceof God obteinedknowledgein ye prophetiquescriptures,I have
thoughtmy self boundto communicateit for the benefitof others,remembering
ye judgmentof
him who hid his talentin a napkin.25
In what follows I will explore the purpose and wisdom of this new religion of natural
philosophy, which was revealed 'by grace' to Isaac Newton. As mentioned above, many
scholars have alreadypointed out that Newton's naturalphilosophical method (underlying
simplicity) is similar to the 'way he organizes other areas of inquiry'.26 Furthermore,
according to Kenneth Knoespel, Newton's unfinished manuscript of the Theologiae
Gentilis Origines Philosophiae was to be 'devoted to showing how ancient religious
practice could reveal physical truths about the universe'.27Similarly, Scott Mandelbrote
maintains that Newton's work on prophecy assumes that 'mathematics was God's
language'.28 More specifically, Force points out that 'Newton's calculus is based on the
continuity of flow as supervised by the God of Dominion operating in his generally
provident mode of creator and preserverof the current state of natural law'.29 Adding to
all of this excellent scholarship is Niccollo Guicciardini'sthorough research on Newton's
use of mathematics in the Principia.Guicciardinipoints to Newton's 'methodological turn
of the 1670s' regarding the method of fluxions.30 In this shift Newton recovered the
geometrical procedures of the ancients and incorporated them in his new physics.
Accordingly, this shift fits nicely with Newton's overall reorientation toward the prisca
sapientia. This paper will point out that Newton's youthful method of fluxions (1660s),
which was later shifted into what Guicciardinilabels 'prisca geometria', already contains
within it a spiritual seed functioning analogously to God's original pure Vestal religion.
Furthermore, the concepts behind the method of fluxions and the later shift are a
mathematical interpretation of the root of corruption in Nature and society and an
abstraction of the lawfulness of materiality. Newton's method of fluxions and his later
geometrical methods in the Principia (the recovery of the prisca geometria) capture and
reveal the most fundamental truth about the mechanism of perception and the natural
decline of all processes in Nature. The concepts behind this method may be seen as the seed
of Newton's systematic work containing new, yet ancient and divine wisdom, necessaryfor
the redemption of souls. Along with the laws of motion of bodies (especially the physical
25 Newton, Yahuda MS 1.1, fol.1r, in SarahHutton, 'The seven trumpets and the seven vials: apocalypticism
and christology in Newton's theological writings', in Newton and Religion: Context, Nature, and Influence (ed.
J. E. Force and R. Popkin), Dordrecht, 1999, 167.
26 Hutton, op. cit. (25), 165. On this issue see also Maurizio Mamiani, 'The rhetoric of certainty: Newton's
method in science and in the interpretation of the apocalypse', in Persuading Science: The Art of Scientific
Rhetoric (ed. M. Pera and W. R. Shea), Canton, 1991, 157-72; Force, op. cit. (3); Snobelen, 'God of Gods', op.
cit. (2), Markley, op. cit. (2).
27 Knoespel, op. cit. (17), 179-203, 180.
28 Mandelbrote, op. cit. (2), 301.
29 Force, op. cit. (3), 88.
30 Niccolo Guicciardini,Reading the Principia: The Debate on Newton's Mathematical Methods for Natural
Philosophy from 1687-1736, Cambridge, 1999, 37-8, 99-108.

423
notions of space, time and vis insita) they open a path through which souls can engage in
a process of detachment from material complications and become more in tune with the
simplicity of the spiritual laws of the God of Dominion. Indeed, for Newton, 'mathematics
becomes akin to revelation', and is both the 'analytical and moral shield against the
corruption of the physical world'.31 The knowledge contained in the method of fluxions
opens a path to the human soul through which it can come closer to the incorporeal and
spiritual perspective of God and thus worship Him more properly.
The concepts of Newton's method of fluxions

Newton's method of fluxions is physically oriented and rests upon similar physical
assumptions which appear in his celebrated Principia (1687). In both physics and
mathematics, Newton investigated the continuous flow of discrete quantities in relation to
a perseveringquantity that flows uniformly in relation to the equable flow of time.32The
intimate relation between the method of fluxions and the motion of physical bodies is
wonderfully expressed in De Quadratura Curvaturum,written around 1704:
Mathematical
quantitiesI hereconsidernot as consistingof leastpossibleparts,but as described
by a continuousmotion. Lines are describedand by describinggeneratednot throughthe
appositionof partsbut throughthe continuousmotionof points,surface-areas
are throughthe
motionsof lines ... timesthroughcontinualflux, andthe like cases.Thesegenesestake placein
the realityof physicalNatureand are dailywitnessedin the motionsof bodies.33
On the basis of this text and others, Richard Arthur and F. De Gandt have argued
convincingly that Newton's method of fluxions must be understood in relation to the
equable flow of absolute time.34Arthur points out that, for Newton, duration was not a
kind of change in the thing enduring since 'the existence of fluents (i.e. flowing quantities)
presupposes a temporal flux. A quantity cannot continually increase or diminish in time
unless time itself undergoes a continual accretion'.35In fact, in a draft from 1712, which
later appeared anonymously in the Philosophical Transactions, Newton wrote,
31 Markley, op. cit. (2), 140.
32 On the development of Newton's method of fluxions, see Guicciardini, op. cit. (30), 17-38; regarding the
relation between mathematics and physics in Newton's Principia, see Guicciardini, op. cit. (30), 39-98; Isaac
Newton, The Principia: Mathematical Principlesof Natural Philosophy, a New Translation by 1. BernardCohen
and Anne Whitman, Assisted by Julia Budenz (hereafter'Cohen-Whitman, Principia'), Berkeley, 1999, 129-38;
148-53.
33 Isaac Newton, The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton (ed. D. T. Whiteside), 8 vols., Cambridge,
1967-81, viii, 123 (hereafterNMP). See also 'geometry and mechanics are joined together in the closest unity, and
to speak more truly, they are nothing other than two parts of the one and the same science ... I say that geometry
from its nature is nothing other than the more select part of mechanics, indeed I say that nearly all the
mathematical sciences originated from mechanics'. NMP, vii, 339-41.
34 F. De Gandt, Force and Geometry in Newton's Principia (tr. C. Wilson), Princeton, 1995; Richard T. W.
Arthur, 'Newton's fluxions and equably flowing time', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (1995), 26,
323-51. The methodological shift that Guicciardini points out does not exclude the concept of an equable flow
of a mathematical entity that functions analogously to absolute time. Newton refers to it as part of the synthetic
method of fluxions. See Guicciardini, op. cit. (30), 112-15.
35 Arthur, op. cit. (34), 327.
36 NMP, iii, 17-18. ULC. Add.3968.41:83r, late 1714?

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Ayval Ramati
I consider time as flowing or increasing by continual flux & other quantities as increasing
continually in time & from the fluxion of time I give the name of fluxions to the velocities with
which all other quantities increase ... I expose time by any quantity flowing uniformly &
represent its fluxion by a unit, and the fluxion of other quantities I represent by any other fit
symbols.36
If we look at this text carefully, we find that for Newton time is a most fundamental
entity and the measure of all quantities.37 He was consistent on this issue throughout his
life. The 'continual flux' of mathematical time is in consonance with his definition of the
equable flowing duration of the Principia's absolute time. 'Absolute, true, and
mathematical time', Newton writes in the Principia, 'of itself, and from its own nature
flows equably without regard to anything external, and by another name is called
duration'. 38 Both mathematical and physical times are beyond human reach and can be
exposed only by finite quantities, which flow uniformly congruent to the equable flow of
the absolute. Thus in mathematics Newton assigns the fluxion of a chosen uniformly
flowing quantity the privileged status of a unit from which all other fluxions are analysed,
whereas in physics, he analyses accelerated deviations caused by external forces from
inertial frames of reference. Furthermore, the homogeneity of all mathematical quantities
echoes his understanding of the homogeneity of physical atoms. In both cases the
homogeneous investigated quantities (be they mathematical or material) differ only in their
fluxion or trajectories. In other terms, in both mathematics and physics, uniformly flowing
relative time is the independent variable from which Newton investigated curves and
trajectories.39 A concise statement of the above is given in 'The method of fluxions and
infinite series':
We can, however, have no estimate of time except in so far as it is expounded by an equable local
motion, and furthermorequantities of the same kind alone, and so also their speeds of increase
and decrease, may be compared one with another. For these reasons I shall, in what follows, have
no regard to time, formally so considered, but from quantities propounded which are of the same
kind shall suppose some one to increase with an equable flow: to this all the others may be
referred as though it were time, and so by analogy the name of 'time' may not improperly be
conferred upon it.40
Once again here and elsewhere, real time is 'expounded and measured' by an equably
increasing entity. Or, in De Gandt's terms, Newton puts
several curves or magnitudes into relation through a very clear system establishing relative
location and successive dependence, and among the geometrical magnitudes, there is one that
receives a privileged status - it is a displacement that serves as a fundamental variable and which
is called time. And as a function of this basic variation, one can compare the variations of other
magnitudes, such as occur if the time or the abscissa receives a very small increment.41
37 Absolute space is not less relevant, yet for the argumentpresentedin this paper I chose to highlight the role
of the equable flow of absolute time.
38 Isaac Newton, The Principia (tr. Andrew Motte), New York, 1995, 13.
39 For a fuller exposition of Newton's mathematical time see De Gandt, op. cit. (34), 159-265; and D. T.
Whiteside's illuminating notes on Newton's method of fluxions, especially NMP, viii, 92-159.
40 NMP, iii, 73. This paper was written between 1670 and 1673.
41 De Gandt, op. cit. (34), 199-200. See also Newton's own words: 'Because we possess no estimation of the
time except insofar as it is represented and measured by the intermediary of a uniform local motion, and
furthermorebecause quantities, and their velocities of increase or decrease, can be compared with one another
only if they are of the same kind, for this reason I shall not in what follows have any regard for the time taken

425
A
T
B
b
Figure 1. Newton's privileging of enduring quantities over altered quantities. (NMP, viii, 98.)
It is manifest at first inspection that these fluxions [i.e. the changing curved line AC, and the
uniform flowing AB] are to one another as the curve's tangent CT, its subtangent TB and its
ordinate BC. But were this not evident, the problem would be solved in this manner: let the
ordinate BC advance from its place BC to any new place bc and, with the perpendicularCD let
fall to bc, the augments of the curve, its abscissa and its ordinate will be Cc, CD and Dc, and the
required fluxions will then be to one another in the first ratio of these nascent increments, that
is in the ratios of the tangent CT, the subtangent TB and the ordinate BC.42
Newton's systematic work, which privileges enduring quantities (quantities generated by
an equable flow) over altered ones (quantities whose fluxion keeps changing its rate of
flow), is clearly exemplified in Figure 1, taken from De Quadratura Curvaturum.
Here, as elsewhere, most of Newton's procedures preserve close links with geometrical
and kinematical intuition.43 In Figure 1 Newton constructs a persevering frame of reference
from which he can investigate the rate of change of a quantity that does not maintain an
equable flow. Time is replaced by a quantity, which flows uniformly - here the fluxion of
A along the x-axis. Following, AB becomes the unit of time from which Newton
investigates the changing fluxion of the curve AC. Put differently, he situates himself on a
uniformly flowing quantity represented by the line AB and while defining the interval AB
as the unit (measuring rod) he investigates the rate of change of the curved line AC. From
B he draws an ordinate which cuts the curved line at point C. This move enables him to
analyse what is going to happen at the next nascent increment of time in both fluxions - AB
and AC. This step is permissible since Newton considered all 'quantities as increasing
continually in time'. Thus at the same unit of time we have two differing fluxions to look
formally, but among the quantities proposed which are of the same kind I shall suppose one of them to increase
according to a uniform fluxion, and I shall relate all the other quantities to this as if it were time itself, so the
name of time can rightly be attributed to it by analogy.' NMP, iii, 72.
42 NMP, viii, 95.
43 Newton was very insistent regardinghis geometrical approach and avoidance of indivisibles. For example,
he says in De Quadratura: 'In finite quantities, however, to institute analysis in this way and to investigate the
first or last ratio of nascent or vanishing finites is in harmony with the geometry of the ancients, and I wanted
to show that in the method of fluxions there should be no need to introduce infinitely small figuresinto geometry.'
NMP, viii, 129.

426
Ayval Ramati
at: AB (the unit) and the curved line AC. The question investigatedis the ratio of these two
fluxions to one another at the following nascent interval of time. Everything else that
follows is a comparison through geometrical procedures of the fluxion of AB and AC in
relation to BC, which becomes bc. Newton's conclusion is that at the first nascent
increment of time the relation of AB and the curved line AC to BC is given by the same
ratio present in the triangle TBC. That is, the relation between the subtangent TB and the
curve's tangent CT to BC is the same as AB and AC is to BC.
Thus, without further assumptions, Newton is able to calculate the momentary change
of the fluxion of the curved line AC at point C. This example makes it clear that the same
procedure needs to be applied for each point on the curved line AC since each point is
analysed in relation to an external inertial frame of reference. The relation investigated is
not that between the separate points, which compose the curve, but always that of the
fluxion of the curve at a certain moment (point) in relation to an external frame of
reference. Newton shows no intention here of studying the internal relations of the points
composing the curve itself." He is interestedonly in the momentary deviation of the curve
at point C in relation to an external uniformly flowing quantity (AB) representing time.
Indeed, in his mathematicsand physics, the chosen state of quantities is an equably flowing
one. Quantities flow within time's equable duration as long as they are not momentarily
disrupted. Furthermore,in physics, a deviation from the equable flow of any quantity is
always considered to be inferior to the persevering inertial state, and caused by external
interruptions. In Newton's system a curved fluxion is never generated due to an internal
built-in algorithm that can be understood by itself without relation to an external inertial
frame of reference.45The cause of deviations is always external and momentary and must
be calculated over and over again in relation to an external frame of reference.46
Newton took less interest in findingthe algorithm generatingcurves, and studied mainly
the momentary deviations of the curve in relation to an external uniformly flowing
quantity representingtime. In his system, quantities that are left alone flow within time's
equable duration, since the chosen state is an equably flowing one. All deviations from this
eternal flow are considered inferior and caused by external interruptions. Internal
regularities never generate a curved fluxion. The cause of deviations is external and
momentary and must be calculated over and over again along curved trajectories. Let us
now examine the connection between these quantities and God's objective perspective.
44 In contrast to Newton, Leibniz's calculus studies the internal relations of the points composing the curve;
on this issue see H. J. M. Bos, 'Differentials, higher-order differentials and the derivative in the Leibnizian
calculus', Archive for History of Exact Sciences (1974), 14, 1-90; idem, 'Fundamentalconcepts of the Leibnizian
calculus', Studia Leibnitianna Sonderheft (1986), 14; Bertoloni-Meli, Domenico, Equivalence and Priority:
Newton versus Leibniz, Oxford, 1993; Guicciardini, op. cit. (30), 136-68.
45 Once again, in order to appreciate the difference between Newton and Leibniz, see references from note
(45).
46 For an excellent exposition of Newton's geometrical procedures for investigating fluxions, see De Gandt,
op. cit. (34), 209-41. For a furtherdiscussion of Newton's way of calculating curvatureswhich are not in the form
of a second order differential equation, see J. Bruce Brackenridge,'The critical role of curvature in Newton's
developing dynamics', in The Investigation of Difficult Things: Essays on Newton and the Exact Sciences in
Honour of D. T. Whiteside (ed. P. M. Harman and Alan E. Shapiro), Cambridge, 1992, 231-60 and A. Rupert
Hall, 'Newton and the absolutes: sources', in ibid., 261-85.

427
God's objectiveperspective
It is clearfromNewton'swritingsthat he maintainedthat humanscouldnevertell which
uniformly flowing quantities really correlatewith absolute time's equable flow.47However,
he did concedethat all uniformlyflowingquantitiesbelongto a preferablegroup,which

in a finiteway exposesthe uniformflow of realtime.In what followsI will point out that
we havegood reasonsto assumethatNewtonbelievedthat calculatingfluxionsassiststhe
wise in graspingGod'sobjectiveperspectiveandthe simplicityof the trueworshipof God
aroundVestalfires.
Newton maintainedthat human beings' bodies are always part and parcel of the
physicalworld. This meansthat the thirdlaw of motionof the reciprocityof actionand
reactionalso governspeople'sbodilyperceptions.Mortalscan neverhave a trulydivine
objectiveperspective,since they are always involvedwith the interactionsthey try to
understand.All the impressionsthat reachtheir sensoriumare mediatedand interfered
with since they are part of a segmentof a chainof actionsand reactionsof the physical
world.Whatevertheychooseto do theywill alwaysbe acteduponin return.Consequently,
mortals'perceptionswill alwaysdeviatefromGod'sobjective,equablyflowingperspective.
It is a humanpredicamentto perceiveinteractionsin the worldin a distortedway through
an action-reactionmechanism.However,Newton believedrationalbeingscan construct
epistemologicalmethodsto assistthemto adjustand amendtheirdistortedperceptionof
reality.God has endowedthem with a soul similarto his infinite,eternalsensorium:
[God]is a uniformBeing,void of Organs,Membersor Parts,... and he is no morethe Soul of
[his creatures],than the Soul of Man is the Soul of the Speciesof Thingscarriedthroughthe
Organsof Senseinto theplaceof its Sensation,whereit perceivesthemby meansof its immediate
Presence,withoutthe Interventionof any thirdthing.The Organsof Senseare not for enabling
the Soulto perceivethe Speciesof thingsin its Sensorium,but only for conveyingthemthither;
and God has no needof such Organs,he beingeverywherepresentto the Thingsthemselves.48
For Newton, 'as we senseobjectsindirectly',explainsDobbs, 'when theirimagesare

broughthome to our little sensories,the centersof perceptionin our brains,so God
perceivesobjectsdirectly'. 4 Newtonstatesthisclearlywhenhe saysthatGod 'has no need
for such Organs'sinceHe perceiveseverythingdirectly(withno mediation)throughHis
infinitesensorium.'He enduresforever,andis everywherepresent;andby existingalways
and everywhere,he constitutesspaceand time.'5 Yet we mortalsneed 'organsof sense'
to mediatebetweenthe objectsoutside our body and our sensorium.It is here where
confusion,errorand corruptionmay enter.In De Gravitationehe writesregardingGod's
omnipresence:
47 Principia, Book I, Scholium I, especially 15-16.

48 Opticks, query 31, 403.
49 B. J. T. Dobbs, 'Newton's alchemy and his "active principle" of gravitation', in Newton's Scientific and
Philosophical Legacy (ed. P. B. Scheurer and G. Debrock), Dordrecht, 1988, 73.
50 Principia, General Scholium, 441. Original emphasis.

428
Ayval Ramati
God is everywhere,createdmindsaresomewhere,andbodyis in the spacethat it occupies;and

whateveris neithereverywherenor anywheredoes not exist. And henceit follows that spaceis
an effectarisingfromthe firstexistenceof being,becausewhenany beingis postulated,spaceis
postulated.5,
Does this mean that God's existence per se constitutes space and time? In the General
Scholium of the Principia Newton is clearer on this issue. He says explicitly that God is
omnipresentin the world: 'He endures for ever, and is everywherepresent; and by existing
always and everywhere,he constitutes duration and space.'52Gregory also recorded, on 21
December 1705, that for Newton, 'as we are sensible of Objects when their Images are
brought home within the brain, so God must be sensible of everything, being intimately
present with every thing'.5 J. E. McGuire adds to this point that Newton's 'God is
everywhere and always: his "where " and "when'" are categorically different from finite
things', thus space and time for him are 'physical manifestations of God's existence;
neither however are properties or qualities of God'. Instead 'space is the Makom of God
wherein he substantiallydwells'.5 Yet, if God is everywherepresent, how is it that nothing
affects Him? How can the SupremeBeing remain uninfluencedwhilst 'in him are all things
contained and move', and corporeal things definitely change through time?55
This issue is very subtle. Newton believed that God's sensorium is pure. Absolute space
is ever present, yet it is absolutely detached from the thing present to itself or, in Newton's
terms, 'God suffersnothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the
omnipresence of God.'56 But what does this pure detachment mean exactly? How could
God, who is 'immaterial, non-corporeal, yet all-pervasive',5 be present to corporeal
bodies through an objective detached sensorium (absolute space and time)? And how can
He intervene in the affairs of the world from such a detached position without being
influenced and thus become degraded or influenced by matter?58In order to answer these
delicate queries, let us look more carefully into Newton's understandingson the nature of
God's dominion over his creation. As human beings, Newton tells us, ' we know [God] only
by his most wise and excellent contrivance of things and final causes; we admire him for
his perfections; but we reverenceand adore him on account of his dominion; for we adore
him as servants'."
51 Isaac Newton, 'De gravitatione et aequipondio fluidorum', in Unpublished Scientific Papers of Isaac
Newton (ed. A. R. Hall and M. B. Hall), Cambridge, 1962, 136-7. Dobbs argues convincingly that the paper
should be dated around 1684, see Dobbs, op. cit. (1), 139-46.
52 Principia, 441.
53 W. G. Hiscock (ed.), David Gregory,Isaac Newton and their Circle, Oxford, 1937, 130, cited also in B. J. T.
Dobbs, op. cit. (50), 60.
54 J. E. McGuire, 'Force, active principles, and Newton's invisible realm', Ambix (1968), 25, 154-208, 200,
201. The term Makom is a Jewish concept of space. On this issue see B. P. Copenhaver, 'Jewish theologies of
space in the scientific revolution: Henry More, Joseph Raphson, Isaac Newton and their predecessors', Annals
of Science (1980), 37, 489-548.
55 For a stimulating discussion on these questions, see J. E. McGuire, 'The fate of the date: the theology of
Newton's Principiarevisited', in Rethinking the ScientificRevolution (ed. Margaret J. Osler), Cambridge,2000,
271-95, 279-93. For a differentperspectivefrom the ones discussed here, see A. Rupert Hall, op. cit. (47), 261-87.
56 Principia, 441.
57 Dobbs, op. cit. (50), 71.
58 On this issue see Force, op. cit. (3), 88-9, and McGuire, op. cit. (56), 279-93.
59 Principia, 441-2.

429
He tells us that the dominion of God over his servants is analogous to the dominion of
our soul over our body.60 Indeed, writes Newton, 'God may appear to our innermost
consciousness to have created the world by the sole act of his will, just as we move our
bodies by an act of will alone.'6' The same idea is also expressed in the queries of the
Opticks: God, says Newton, is a powerful ever-living Agent 'who being in all Places, is
more able by his Will to move the Bodies within his boundless uniform Sensorium, and
thereby to form and reform the Parts of the Universe, than we are by our Will to move the
Parts of our own Bodies.62 Newton labels space a sensorium, when he refers to the
essential role of God's will and the work of active principles:
Life and will are activeprinciplesby which we move our bodies& thenceariseotherlaws of
motionnot yet knownto us ... If therebe a universallife, & all spacebe the sensoriumof an
immaterialliving,thinking,being,who by immediatepresenceperceivesthingsin it as that wch
thinksin us perceivestheirpicturesin the brainand whose Ideaswork morepowerfullyupon
matterthanthe Imaginationof a motherworksuponan embrio,or thatof a manuponhis body
forpromotinghealthor sickness,the lawsof motionarisingfromlife or will maybe of a universal
extent.63
Let us look deeper into the meaning of the immediate presence of God's sensorium. In
thorough research on the physiology of the self (relying upon this text and similar ones)
Iliffe argues that for Newton the 'fact of free will and the capacity of self-motion were
always held' to be evidence that the 'normal laws of motion had application over a limited
domain' and that there 'was more to comprehendingthe world than was demonstrated in
the Principia '64
Or, in Newton's terms,
Matteris a passiveprinciple& cannotmoveitself.It continuesin its stateof movingor resting

unlessdisturbed... Theseare passivelaws & to affirmthat thereis no otheris to speakagainst
experience.Forwe findin ourselvesa powerof movingour bodiesby our thought.LifeandWill
(thinking)areactivePrinciplesby wch we moveour bodies,& thenceariseotherlaws of motion
unknown to us.65
Throughout the years Newton changed his mind regardingthe laws of active principles,
working through such forces as generation, fermentation and gravity.66 According to
McGuire, he considered these active principles as 'intimately connected with the causation
of Divine agency'. The lowest degree of reality and perfection belonged to matter and its
passive laws (vis insita) and as such they were completely dependent on the will of God.
Yet
providenceplannedthe worldso that divinepowershouldnot be limited,and so that it would
be manifestto thosewho studiedNaturewith piety.Fromthispointof view activeprinciplesare
the expressionof God's potentiaabsolutain Nature,such that laws and forcesin the present
naturalorderare usedintermittently
to actualizethe pre-conceivedends of Providence."7
60 Principia, 440. On the relationship of soul and body, see also Rob Iliffe, ' "That puzzling problem": Isaac
Newton and the political physiology of self', Medical History (1995), 39, 433-58.
61 'De gravitatione', op. cit. (52), 141.
62 Opticks, 403.
63 U. L. C. Add. 3790, fol. 252v, cited in McGuire, op. cit. (55), 205. My emphasis.
64 Iliffe, op. cit. (61), 453, 457.
65 U. L. C. Add. 3790, fol. 619r, cited in McGuire, op. cit. (55), 171.
66 On this issue see McGuire, op. cit. (55); Dobbs, op. cit. (1); Iliffe op. cit. (61).
67 McGuire, op. cit. (55), 206-7; see also McGuire, op. cit. (56), 288-93.

430
Ayval Ramati
Thoughpassive,matteris not excludedfromthis spiritualdivineplan.Instead,Newton's

conceptionof matterbelongsto an ancientdoctrineregardinga chainof beingstretching
from the throneof God into Nature.This doctrineassumesthat 'existingentitiesmove
imperceptiblyup the chain from materialthroughimmaterialto the greatestreachesof
spirituality'.68
Matteras such,thoughpassive,necessarilycontains,hiddenwithinit, a seedof the laws

of spirituality,otherwisehow couldGod,the Higheston Highon the spiritualscale,create,
sustain and reformthis most degradedentity?Thus it is my contentionthat Newton
conceivedof vis insitaof matteras a spiritualmechanisminstilledwithinmatter.Visinsita
is actuallya spiritualmathematicalseatplanteddeepwithinmatter,a reminiscenceof the
equableflow of God'ssensorium,in orderthat Providencecan sustainthe creation(with
activeforces)and intervenewhenrequiredwithoutbeingthe leastinfluencedby matter.69
of the divineflow couldneversustainby itselfthe
Nonetheless,this spiritualreminiscence
divineorderin the materialworld. If this passiveforce,which resistsany changeof the
inertialstate of atoms,had beenthe only spiritualforce workingupon matterthen 'the
Bodiesof the Earth,Planets,Comets,Sun, and all thingsin them would grow cold and
freeze,and becomeinactiveMasses'.Indeed,'the varietyof Motionwhichwe findin the
Worldis alwaysdecreasing,[and]thereis a necessityof conservingand recruitingit by
active Principles'."The order of the world decreasesin time since interactionsand
externalforcesdraw atoms out of theirpristineheavenlyinertialflow and as such they
react.7'Even the innocentinteractionof rays of light with bodies causes a stir and a
reactionin the internalconstitutionof bodies:
Nothing more is requisitefor puttingthe Rays of Lightinto Fits of easy Reflexionand easy
Transmission,than that they be smallBodieswhichby theirattractivePowers,or some other
Force,stir up Vibrationsin what they act upon, whichVibrationsbeingswifterthan the Rays,
overtakethemsuccessively,andagitatethemso as by turnsto increaseor decreasetheirVelocities,
and therebyput theminto thoseFits.72
Newtonwas awarethat 'motionis everlost by communicationespecially

Furthermore,
twixt bodys of differentconstituents:and thereforeit can no way be conveyedto ye
sensorium so entirely as by the aether it selfe'.73 Thus it is reasonable to conclude that
bodily senses are intermediarychannels through which human beings gain information in
the sensorium regardingthe created world. This means that human beings' organs of sense
are prone to deceive as historical time passes, since people do get caught up in material
interactions. Indeed,
68 McGuire, op. cit. (55), 186. In op. cit. (56), McGuire even shows that in the PrincipiaNewton's God 'is the
ground of all being - the spiritual tonos and "structuring structure" of the cosmos', 295.
69 A similar view is given in McGuire, op. cit. (56), 291-2.
70 Opticks, 399-400.
71 See e.g. vis insita is a 'passive Principleby which Bodies persist in their Motion or Rest, receive Motion in
proportion to the force impressing it, and resist as much as they are resisted', Opticks, 397.
72 Opticks, 372-3.
73 J. E. McGuire and M. Tamny (eds.), Certain Philosophical Questions: Newton's Trinity Notebook,
Cambridge, 1983, 488.

431
Newton's view of God's Dominion, i.e., the total supremacyof God's power and will over every
aspect of creation, colours every aspect of his views about how matter (and the laws regulating
the ordinaryoperation of matter) is created, preserved,reformed, and occasionally, interdicted by
a voluntary and direct act of God's sovereign will and power.
Thus Force contends that
Newton's commitment to the Lord God of Dominion issues necessarilythe dependence of Nature
upon God's will. He creates it and (at the same time) he creates it to operate by the ordinary
concourse of the laws of Nature. He preserves it, he reforms it, from time to time he directly
suspends its ordinary operation through a specificallyprovident act of will, and He has promised
in prophecy to destroy it as the wise have good reason to understand and to believe it.74
Newton's cosmology
In order to grasp further the role of passive and active forces and the Dominion of God
in every aspect of creation we need to turn to Newton's cosmology.75 Newton maintained
that God created a cyclical cosmogony that He constantly sustains and replenishes when
necessary. Pierre Kerszberg argues that Newton maintained that we perceive 'the action of
God wherever Nature is not simply uniform and indistinct. Any configuration would be
real because of God's sovereign will '.76 Indeed, according to Iliffe, in De Gravitatione
God's will is so great that Newton puts 'forward a notion of space in which there are
always a multitude of figures not disclosed to sight. For Newton these objects actually
existed, although they became visible only when God endowed them with sensible qualities
(in the same way that dye made visible swirling figures in water)'. Bodies 'existed by Divine
Will' since the power of God 'was such that he could have created bodies in an infinite
number of ways .77 Thus for Newton creation is a consequence of God's Will to design and
operate a certain material order out of His divine, detached, equably radiating, eternal flow
which constitutes space and time. In order to control creation from such a detached eternal
sensorium the Lord of Dominion had to endow the created matter with a divine equably
enduring quality, in the form of a passive inertial force (vis insita). Vis insita of bodies is
the mechanism through which God controls the Cosmos from eternity to eternity without
being the least affected by bodily interaction. This passive physical force is a divine,
equably enduring bodily state concealed in matter. Yet, as mentioned above, vis insita
alone cannot explain the motion of bodies and the non-uniform distribution of matter in
space. In a letter to Bentley, Newton insisted that the world would remain in primeval
chaos; matter would be distributed in perfect uniformity in space unless God chose
otherwise:
74 Force, op. cit. (3), 84.
75 On this issue see David Kubrin, 'Newton and the cyclical cosmos: providence and the mechanical
philosophy', Journal of the History of Ideas (1967), 28, 324-46; M. A. Hoskin, 'Newton's providence and the
universe of stars', Journal of the History of Astronomy (1977), 8, 77-101; J. E. McGuire, 'Newton on place, time
and God: an unpublished source', BJHS (1978), 11, 114-29; Dobbs, op. cit. (1); Genuth, op. cit. (13).
76 Pierre Kerszberg,'The cosmological question in Newton's science', Osiris, 2nd series (1986), 2, 69-106, 82.
On these issues, see also Newton, 'De gravitatione', op. cit. (52), 106, 144; and Martin Tammy, 'Newton,
creation, and perception', Isis (1979), 70, 48-58.
77 Iliffe, op. cit. (61), 451. Emphasis original.

432
Ayval Ramati
The hypothesisof Matter'sbeingat firstevenlyspreadthroughthe Heavens,is in my Opinion,

inconsistentwith the Hypothesisof innateGravity,withouta supernatural
Powerto reconcile
them, and thereforeit infersa Deity.78
An additional active participation of God (in the form of gravitational forces and other
active forces) is needed in order to create and sustain the present distribution of atoms in
space. Like many English theologians of the time, Newton believed that the cosmos, once
left to itself, must decline in motion and regularity.79Therefore, in the Bentley letters and
in the second edition of the Principia, Newton insisted that God periodically restores the
quantity of motion and the regularityof movement among celestial bodies with comets that
replenish the earth, planets and even the Sun.80The replenishmentof the cyclical cosmos
is another important indication of God's dominion and benevolence towards creation.
Newton's physical understandingof the cyclical cosmos also echoes in his studies on the
works of the prophets and the history of ancient kingdoms.8' Indeed, as mentioned at the
beginning of the paper, Newton showed that the history of humanity is such that people's
senses become adulterated by vice once their true spiritual worship descends from its
simple creed and takes a form of idolatry. Idolatry is a materialistic substitute of the true
spiritual purity of the simple creed. Once idolatry starts souls can no longer be tuned to
the music of the spheres or hear the pipes of Pan,82since idolatry worship is a form of
'lusting after material achievements' and 'quarreling over metaphysical points .8
Furthermore,idolatry distorts the information brought into people's sensoria, analogous
in many ways to the deviation of planets from their orbits due to the decline of motion
towards the end of the cycle just before God replenishes the solar system with comets. A
real connection exists between idolatry and corrupt natural philosophy. 'It was not
strange, therefore, for Newton', writes Piyo Rattansi,
to try to prove that his scientificwork in the Principiawas a rediscoveryof the mystical
philosophywhichhad passedto the Egyptiansand the Greeksfrom the Jews. It now madeit
possibleto glimpsethe truthhiddenin ancientriddles,likethe musicof thespheresandthePipes
of Pan to whose music the whole of creationwas said to dance... Once human beings
theinfinitepowerof God,andhowHe hadframedthingsandcontinuallywatched
comprehended
overthem,theywouldbe led to a deeperunderstanding
and acceptanceof the dutiestheyowed
to Him and to theirfellow humanbeings.84
In both the theological and the natural cases, the divine pristine reform involved the
recoveryof the prisca sapientia - the original, primitivereligion and the ancient knowledge
78 Isaac Newton, 'First letter to Bentley' in 'Four letters of Sir Isaac Newton to Doctor Bentley', in Isaac
Newton's Papers and Letters on Natural Philosophy and Related Documents (ed. I. B. Cohen with R. E.
Schofield), Cambridge, MA, 1958, 282-3.
79 Markley, op. cit. (2).
80 On this, see Kerszberg,op. cit. (77); David Kubrin, op. cit. (76); and Genuth, op. cit. (13).
81 On this see also Kenneth J. Knoespel, 'Newton in the school of time: the chronology of ancient kingdoms
amended and the crisis of seventeenth-centuryhistoriography', The Eighteenth Century (1989), 30, no. 3, 19-41.
82 Penelope Gouk, 'The harmonic roots of Newtonian science', in Let Newton Be! (ed. John Fauvel, Raymond
Flood, Michael Shortland and Robin Wilson), Oxford, 1988, 101-25; Piyo Rattansi, 'Newton and the wisdom
of the ancients', in ibid., 185-201; McGuire and Rattansi, op. cit. (1).
83 Goldish, op. cit. (1), 11.
84 Rattansi, op. cit. (83), 198-9.

433
prophecyhad
of naturalphilosophyand mathematics.Thus,for Newton, misinterpreting
'dire consequencesfor an individual'spersonal salvation'.85 Similarly,accordingto
formof theprytanea(the
Markley,Newton'shistoricalstudiesattestthatthe mathematical
eternalflame)is a symbolicembodimentof the mathematicallaws of the universewhich
remains'a timelessguaranteeof a divineintention,a designunaffectedby the successive
cyclesof decayand the corruptionof the materialworld'. And preciselythis sacredfire
'offersthepromiseof accessto thecontinuingbountyof Natureas a signof God'sgrace'86
Moreover,Newton pointsout the ways that 'religiousritualand religiousworshipenact
what is simultaneouslythe studyand worshipof the universe'.87Newton writes,
So thenwas one designof ye firstinstitutionof ye truereligionto proposeto mankindby ye frame
of ye ancientTemples,the studyof the frameof the worldas the trueTempleof ye greatGod
theyworshipped.Andthenceit was yt ye Priestsancientlywereaboveothermenwell skilledin
ye knowledgeof ye trueframeof Nature& accountedit a greatpart of theirTheology.88
For these reasonsit seemsto me that Newton mighthave perceivedhis mathematical

methodof fluxionsas a divinepaththroughwhichhumanscanpurifytheirdistortedbodily
senses. The method of fluxions calculatesdistortionsundergoneby equable flowing
quantities,each calculationrestoringmomentarilythe pure divine objectiveflow from
whichthe flux of the distortedcurvehas deviated.The methodof fluxionsonce embedded
in physicsenableshumanbeingsto purifytheirsensesmomentarilyandconverge,finitely,
with God'sinfiniteobjectiveSensorium.Indeed,accordingto Force,'Newton'scalculusis
basedon the continuityof flow as supervisedby the God of Dominionoperatingin his
generallyprovidentmode of creatorand preserverof the currentstate of naturallaw.'89
Furthermore,I would like to suggest that, for Newton, becomingmore objectivein
mathematicsand physicsis analogousto an epistemologicalprocessof purificationand
detachmentfrom bodily deviations.In a sense, the methodof fluxionsis a processof
restorationof the purespiritualstateof the soul beforebodilydistortionsenteredthe sense
organs,analogousto the restorationof the sacrificialfireworshipby prophetmessengers
aftera corruptperiodof idolatry.To supportthis argument,let us look moreclosely at
Newton's writingson prophecy,wherehe insiststhat the pure state of consciousnessof
humanitycan be detectedin the writingsof the priestsof ancientcultures.
Newton'swritingson prophecy
Accordingto FrankManuel,Newton believedthat the 'prophetwas a religiousteacher
who had beenfavouredand chosenby God becauseof his hard-wonrationalperfection,
not his unbridledflightsof fantasy'.Further,thoughthe languageof prophecywas obscure
and veiled, the mind of the prophet was pellucid. 'The meaning of prophecy was
85
86
87
88
89
Force, 'Newton, the Lord God of Israel', op. cit. (3), 131-58, 135.
Markley, op. cit. (2), 136, 137.
Knoespel, op. cit. (17), 197.
Newton, Yahuda MS 41 f.7r., cited in Knoespel, op. cit. (17), 196.
Force, op. cit. (3), 88.

434
Ayval Ramati
concealed', writes Manuel, 'as were the laws of Nature, that other book in which God had
written a record of his actions; and Newton drew frequent parallels between unravelling
the mysteries of the books of prophecy and discovering the secrets of the Book of
Nature'.90More precisely, in Newton's view, prophecy, as well as the history of mankind,
'becomes the analogue of his scientificefforts to uncover the means to reclaim humankind
from corruption.'"9 Thus Newton writes on Revelation,
Truthis everto be foundin simplicity,andnot in the multiplicityandconfusionof things.As the
world,whichto the nakedeye exhibitsthe greatestvarietyof objects,appearsverysimplein its
internalconstitutionwhensurveyedby a philosophicunderstanding,
andso muchthe simplerby
how muchthe betterit is understood,so it is in these [prophetic]visions.It is the perfectionof
[all]God'sworksthattheyareall donewith the greatestsimplicity.He is the God of orderand
not of confusion.And thereforeas they that would understandthe frameof the world must
endeavourto reducetheir knowledgeto all possible simplicity,so it must be in seekingto
understandthose visions. And they that shall do otherwisedo not only make sure neverto
understandthem,but derogatefromthe perfectionof the prophecy.92
Here, as elsewhere, we find the same central metaphor of Truth as pure and simple,
whereas deviation from Truth is derogation from perfection. According to Castillejo, in all
of Newton's diverse studies it was his 'peculiar art to reduce unbelievable complexity to
almost unbelievable simplicity'.93 Simplicity characterizes both the moral realm of
prophecy and the epistemological realm of natural philosophy. 'God guaranteesthat both
Scriptureand Nature can be understood by the human mind', adds Stephen D. Snobelen,
' what is more, both God's Word and God's Works were given and made in such a way that
they are at the fundamental level simple and uncomplicated, and thus both must be
approached with the same method'." A philosophical understandingin physics restores
simplicity to the understanding;it is then that bodies' curved trajectories are understood
to be a momentary disruption from the divine equable flow of bodies' vis insita. The same
disturbed and confused existence of bodies is also detected in the history of commentary
on prophecy. Newton believed that the words of Scripture,especially of a prophecy, are
the direct and simple words of the Creator. Like vis insita of atoms, prophecy is direct and
simple, whereas commentary tends to divert and corrupt the original meaning of God:
haveso distorted
Henceis it not fromany realuncertaintyin the Scripturethat Commentators
it; And this hath been the door throughwhich all Heresieshave creptin and turnedout the
ancient faith.95
For to frame false interpretations is to prejudice men and divert them from the right
understandingof this book. And this is a corruption equipollent to the adding or taking from it,
since it equally deprives men of the use and benefit thereof.9"
90 Manuel, op. cit. (3), 88.
91 Markley, op. cit. (2), 135. For a further discussion on these issues see Dobbs, op. cit. (1); Mandelbrote, op.
cit. (2).
92 Isaac Newton, 'Fragments from a treatise on revelation', in Manuel, op. cit. (3), Appendix A, 120. My
emphasis.
93 Castillejo, op. cit. (4), 22. On the similarity of simplicity in the scientific method and prophetic
interpretation, see Force, op. cit. (3); Snobelen, op. cit. (2), Markley, op. cit. (2).
94 Snobelen, op. cit. (2), 26.
95 Newton, op. cit. (93), 119.
96 Newton, op. cit. (93), 114. My emphasis.

435
of prophecy,writesKochavi,is 'conditionalon a spiritualconditionand,

Interpretation
hence, the natureof the faith of the exegete'.7 Accordingly,Newton, who had such a
spiritualstate of mind, was able to analysehuman and institutionalcorruptionas a
deviationfrom an originaland directcreed,whichGod bestowedupon ancientcultures.
Therefore,within such a frame of mind, it is only a short leap to perceivehuman
corruptionas a deviationfrom or disruptionof God's Truth:
I couldwish they [theCatholicChurch]wouldconsiderhow contraryit is to God'spurposethat
the truth of his religionshould be as obvious and perspicuousto all men as a mathematical
demonstration.
Tis enoughthat it is ableto movethe assentof thosewhichhe has chosen;and
for therestwho areso incredulous,it is justthattheyshouldbe permittedto diein theirsins.Here
thenis the Wisdomof God,thathe hathso framedthe Scripturesas to discernbetweenthe good
and the bad, that they shouldbe demonstrations
to the one and foolishnessto the others.98
In this passagewe can trace the dominantdrive or zeal underlyingall of Newton's

diverseinvestigations.Chosenandwise soulshavea moredirectconnectionwith the God
of Dominionthroughtheirhard-wonrationalperfection.Newton was such a wise soul.
Through his rational endeavourhe was the one chosen to discover and reveal the
epistemologicalmeansfor recoveringthe directconnectionwith God's originalequable
fluxion, which the Creatorbestowedupon His childrenfrom the beginningof history
beforepublic and materialinteractionscorruptedtheir intimateconnectionwith Him.
Whoevershall follow Newton in restoringGod's equablyflowing pure and objective
perspectivewill be ableto distinguishbetweenthe pureandsimpletruthandall the impure
and complex deviationspresent both in Nature and in the many commentarieson
prophecy.99Moreover, underlying the above passage we can trace a hidden moral rule
similar to the third law of motion of the reciprocity of action and reaction. Those who are
'inconsiderate, the proud, the self-conceited, the presumptuous, the sciolist, the skeptic,
they whose judgmentsare ruled by their lusts, their interest, the fashions of the world, their
esteem of men, the outward show of things or other prejudices' will never be able to
'discern the wisdom of God in the contrivance of the creation'.100The thoughts and deeds
one puts into action bear upon one's sensorium. Pure and simple thoughts flow along God's
eternal objective sensorium whereas corrupted ones deviate from the continuous flow
supervised by the God of Dominion:
thesemen'whose heartsarethushardenedin seeingshouldsee and not perceiveand in hearing
shouldhearandnot understand.ForGod has declaredhis intentionin theseprophesiesto be as
well that noneof the wickedshouldunderstandas thatthe wise shouldunderstand,Dan: 12'.11
Butthe worldlovesto be deceived,theywill not understand... Thereare but a few that seek
to understandthe religionthey profess... And chose to professthat religionwhich in their
judgmentappearthe truest.102
97 Kochavi, op. cit. (2), 105.
98 Newton, op. cit. (93), 124.
99 Knoespel also argues that 'the Chronology becomes a means for ordering the present and
anticipating- even transforming- the future', op. cit. (82), 21.
100 Newton, op. cit. (93), 123.
101 Newton, op. cit. (93), 123-4.
102 Newton, A Treatise on the Apocalypse, Yahuda MS 1 f.Sr., cited in Knoespel op. cit. (17), 199.

436
Ayval Ramati
'Newton is convinced', writes Force, 'that God possesses dominion over the wise who
will understandas well as over the wicked who, through vanity and idolatry, will not'.13
We can add to this that a chosen wise soul is equipped with a more refined and pure
sensorium and 'Organs of Sense' with which it can comprehend God's words and actions
simply and directly than a wicked and corrupt one, which has accumulated idolatry and
vanity in its 'Organs of Sense' and thus polluted its sensorium with its crooked and
materialistic attitude. Souls who become deterioratedand polluted can no longer perceive
and understandGod's simple words nor recoverthe continuous flow supervisedby the God
of Dominion. In order to capture both truths one needs the assistance of Newton's 'Rules
for methodizing the Apocalypse'104as well as the grand mathematical apparatus and the
laws of motion of his Principia. For how could deceitful souls perceive or understand
simplicity if they have deviated from the equable flow of God's Absolutes?In contrast, the
refinementand purity of the chosen higher souls, to whom Newton belonged, enabled them
to follow God's pure and simple prophetic messages, as well as discover the true passive
laws of motion of bodies, and the acts of Providence throughout world history.
Furthermore,the wise and moral souls can also recover the truth hidden in alchemy more
properly:
Alchemytradethnot withmetalsas theignorantandvulgarthink... thisphilosophyis not of that
kindwhichtendethto vanityand depictbut ratherto profitand to edificationinducingfirstthe
knowledgeof God ... so thatthescopeis to glorifyGodin hiswonderfulwork,to teachManhow
to live well and to be charitablyaffectedhelpingour neighbour.105
As RichardWestfall has pointed out, the 'philosophical tradition of alchemy had always
regarded its knowledge as the secret possession of a select few who were set off from the
vulgar herd both by their wisdom and by the purity of their hearts'.106 As Snobelen writes,
for Newton 'ancient wisdom has become corrupt, and Newton was determined to restore
its pristine purity'. 107 The ancients, Newton wrote, 'practised a two-fold philosophy,
sacred, and vulgar: the Philosophers handed down the sacred to their disciples through
types and riddles, while the Orators recorded the vulgar openly and in a popular style'. 08
What is fascinating is that the mechanism for the original pristine purity as well as its
possibility to be restored is already built into the sensorium of humans. Originally the
'Organs of Sense' and the sensorium are pure and simple yet as they get caught in matter
they become contaminated and vulgar. Relative and absolute notions play a similar role
both in physics and theology. In physics,
the vulgarconceivethosequantities[spaceandtime]underno othernotionsbutfromthe relation
they bearto sensibleobjects.Andthencearisecertainprejudices,for the removingof which,it
will be convenientto distinguishthemintoabsoluteandrelative,trueandapparent,mathematical
and common.109
103 Force, op. cit. (3), 83.
104 Newton, op. cit. (93), 119.
105 Newton copied this text in the preface to 'Manna' that Mr F. showed him in 1675: Keynes, MS 33, f. 5(v),
cited in Westfall, op. cit. (2), 298.
106 Westfall, op. cit. (2), 298.
107 Snobelen, op. cit. (2), 29, my italics.
108 Newton, Yahuda MS 16.2, f. lr (translated from Latin by Snobelen, op. cit. (2), 31).
109 Principia, Scholiuni 13.

437
Similarly, in theology,
it has been necessaryto distinguishabsoluteand relativequantitiescarefullyfrom each other
becauseall phenomenamaydependon absolutequantities,butordinarypeoplewho do not know
how to abstracttheirthoughtsfrom the sensesalwaysspeakof relativequantities,to such an
extentthatit wouldbe absurdfor eitherscholarsor evenProphetsto speakotherwisein relation
to them. Thus both the SacredScriptureand the writingsof Theologiansmust always be
understoodas referringto relativequantities,and a personwould be labouringundera crass
prejudiceif on this basis he stirredup argumentsabout absolute[changedto philosophical]
notionsof naturalthings.110
Accordingly, Snobelen emphasizes that for Newton, 'absolutes quantities ... are not for
the masses'.111Indeed, their vulgar nature has corrupted their sensorium and understanding. The mechanism of pristine purity is also instilled in the vis insita of atoms. In the
material world it operates even in a more straightforwardway than in human souls. Vis
insita is the direct channel through which communication between God and matter can be
withheld. It is only through this mechanism that God can act without being reacted upon
and reinstill the pristine order of the whole solar system though material interactions have
caused deterioration and corruption. Similarly, in the history of humanity, God reinstills
His simple creed in men through prophet souls, who communicate directly with Him with
their pristine, pure spiritual sensorium. Thus their concealed message to humanity is the
embodiment of God's Truth. Yet God's revealed truth retains its simplicity and purity only
for a short period of time, since even amongst pure souls attachment to material things as
well as metaphysical rubbish causes confusion, distortion and departure from the seed of
Truth. Thus humanity, similar to the material world, forgets the simple creed and follows
the dictates of corruption and idolatry.
Nonetheless, we must withdraw from our previous argument that Newton considered
the method of fluxion to be a method of purification of the sensorium. In spite of the
remarkable resemblance of the process of purification in the moral and epistemological
realms, Newton seems to have separated the two. The natural philosophical epistemological route by itself can never bring true salvation to a suffering and sinful soul,
though Newton does referto the 'purity of Mathematical and Philosophical Truth'.12 The
removal of sin depends totally upon God's dominion and will. God, not human souls, is
the One who decides which souls shall be chosen and purifiedfrom their moral sins, in the
same way that only God has dominion over the replenishingof the solar system. Without
divine intervention the nature of interaction of souls and matter, as well as of atoms
amongst themselves, necessarily brings about corruption and deviation from the pure
inertial path of God's eternal equable flow. Therefore salvation depends upon God's choice
only, and it is more than likely that Newton strongly believed that even the simple
straightforward divine Truth he was revealing to humanity would become materialistic
and confused and eventually deviate from God's path as time passed.113 Yet in spite of
110 Cohen-Whitman, Principia, op. cit. (32), 36, cited in Snobelen, op. cit. (2), 31.
111 Snobelen, op. cit. (2), 31.
112 Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (tr. A. Motte and F. Cajori), 2 vols.,
Berkeley, 1962, i, 11; Cohen-Whitman, Principia, op. cit. (32), 110, 414, cited in Snobelen op. cit. (2), 26.
113 Indeed, according to Snobelen, Newton hid most of his beliefs from society since he did not think time had
yet arrived when people would be able to comprehend. Snobelen, op. cit. (21), 419.

438
Ayval Ramati
God's sole dominion, the method of fluxions, as well as the other Newtonian works, may
purify the epistemological condition of human souls by bringingthem closer to the equable
flow of the Lord and Master of creation if properly understood. Indeed, as Kenneth
Knoespel concludes, it 'is entirely appropriate to compare Newton's role at such an
interpretivejuncture to Jesus for just as the cogency of Jesus' interpretationestablished a
new religion, so the cogency of Newton's work could ground religion on renewed physical
truths '.14
Conclusion
Newton did not believe redemption and salvation were possible through the work of his
natural philosophy, since God's Dominion and will was necessary for salvation to take
place. Newtonian natural philosophy revealed God's sensorium, yet absolute space and
time were only the epistemological state of God's equable flowing mind whilst the whole
plan of the will of the God of creation will remain beyond human reach until the day will
come when God will choose to do otherwise. Nonetheless, the method of fluxions unveiled
the pure state of God's equable endurance; still this knowledge could not in itself purify
the human soul. It even further exposed the unfortunate epistemological condition of the
soul bounded to perform actions through its body within the restrictions of the third law
of action and reaction. God is the only being who can act on matter without being reacted
upon. However pristine the epistemological state of the natural philosophical mind
becomes with the assistance of correct mathematical calculations, the predicament of the
human soul is such that it will always get corrupted through the encounter with matter
unless God chooses to intervene and restore purity. The same truth of material bondage
is reflected in the condition of matter itself. Vis insita is an epistemological state of purity
of bodies, yet it is not an active force. This passive state is analogous to the highest
epistemological state which natural philosophers can achieve when interrogating Nature
with the assistance of the method of fluxions. Nonetheless, any external force can alter this
pure passive state. The pure state of matter is analogous to the prisca sapientia God
revealed to Adam; it is a passive state that obeys God completely. Yet the Fall of matter
and the Fall of humanity are unavoidable. All pure states deteriorate when entering the
material stage of action and reaction. Newton's natural philosophy could only redeem the
epistemological condition of the human consciousness (mainly the wise), not the human
will, whose relation of bondage to materiality continues to corrupt it. Nonetheless, the
'perfection of natural knowledge must lead to a more perfect knowledge of God, with its
attendant moral beliefs'."'
114 Knoespel, op. cit. (17), 201.

115 McGuire and Rattansi, op. cit. (1), 123.


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The British Society for the History of Science

The Hidden Truth of Creation: Newton's Method of Fluxions

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BJHS, 2001, 34, 417-438

The hidden truth of creation: Newton's method

The search for truth

Department of History, Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.

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Newton's method of fluxions

JamesE. Forceaddsto this dual aspectof Truth,expressedin Natureand in Scripture,

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Newton's method of fluxions

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Newton's method of fluxions

The concepts of Newton's method of fluxions

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Newton's method of fluxions

Newton's systematic work, which privileges enduring quantities (quantities generated by

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Newton's method of fluxions

he did concedethat all uniformlyflowingquantitiesbelongto a preferablegroup,which

For Newton, 'as we senseobjectsindirectly',explainsDobbs, 'when theirimagesare

47 Principia, Book I, Scholium I, especially 15-16.

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God is everywhere,createdmindsaresomewhere,andbodyis in the spacethat it occupies;and

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Newton's method of fluxions

Or, in Newton's terms,

Matteris a passiveprinciple& cannotmoveitself.It continuesin its stateof movingor resting

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Thoughpassive,matteris not excludedfromthis spiritualdivineplan.Instead,Newton's

Matteras such,thoughpassive,necessarilycontains,hiddenwithinit, a seedof the laws

Newtonwas awarethat 'motionis everlost by communicationespecially

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Newton's method of fluxions

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The hypothesisof Matter'sbeingat firstevenlyspreadthroughthe Heavens,is in my Opinion,

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Newton's method of fluxions

For these reasonsit seemsto me that Newton mighthave perceivedhis mathematical

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Newton's method of fluxions

of prophecy,writesKochavi,is 'conditionalon a spiritualconditionand,

In this passagewe can trace the dominantdrive or zeal underlyingall of Newton's

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Newton's method of fluxions

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114 Knoespel, op. cit. (17), 201.

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