Space and Timie question

I was just wondering why Newton felt compelled to establish space and time, before he proceeded with his laws of physics. He goes to an thorough job of defining place and relative vs absolute motion and such. And I was wondering why it is necessary to know this? (I understand that this question can be asked for a lot, and I am not just asking a rhetorical answer but and interested how this plays a role in his physics.) Does this have anything to do with proceeding in his Principia in a geometrical proof-esque way?