1. Instead then of the word nature, taken in the first sense, [for natura naturans,] we may make use of the term it is put to signify, namely, God; wholly discarding an expression, which, besides that it is harsh and needless, and in use only among the schoolmen, seems not to me very suitable to the profound reverence we owe the divine majesty since it seems to make the creator differ too little by far from a created (not to say an imaginary) Being.

2. Instead of nature in the second sense, [for, That, on whose account a thing is what it is, and is so called,] we may employ the word essence, which is of great affinity to it, if not of an adequate import: and sometimes also we may make use of the word quiddity, which, though a somewhat barbarous term, is yet frequently employed, and well enough understood, in the schools; and, which is more considerable, is very comprehensive, and yet free enough from ambiguity.

3. What is meant by the word nature taken in the third sense of it, [for what belongs to a living creature at its nativity, or accrues to it by its birth,] may be expressed sometimes by saying, that a man or other animal is born so; and sometimes by saying, that a thing has been generated such; and sometimes also, that it is thus or thus qualified by its original temperament and constitution.

4. Instead of the word nature taken in the fourth acception [for, an internal principle of local motion] we may say sometimes, that this or that body moves as it were, or else that it seems to move, spontaneously (or of its own accord) upwards, downwards, &c. Or, that is put into this or that motion, or determined to this or that action by the concourse of such or such (proper) causes.

5. For nature in the fifth signification, (for, the established course of things corporeal] it is easy to substitute what it denotes, the established order, or the settled course of things.

6. Instead of nature in the sixth sense of the word [for, an aggregate of the powers belonging to a body, especially a living one] we may employ the constitution, temperament, or the mechanism, or the complex of the essential properties or qualities; and sometimes the condition, the structure, or the texture of that body: and if we speak of the greater portions of the world, we may make use of one or other of these terms, Fabric of the world, system of the universe, cosmical mechanism, or the like.

7. Where men are wont to employ the word nature in the seventh sense [for the universe, or the system of the corporeal works of God] it is easy, and as short, to make use of the word world or universe, and instead of the phenomena of nature, to substitute the phenomena of the universe, or of the world.

8. And, as for the word nature taken in the eighth and last of the fore-mentioned acceptions [for, either (as some Pagans stiled her) a goddess, or a kind of semi-deity] the best way is not to employ it in that sense at all, or at least as seldom as may be; and that for divers reasons, which may in due place be met with in several parts of this essay.