reasons made clear and
demonstrative to every individual?

The editor knows that the subject of this letter is not so fully handled
as obviously it might; it was not his design to say all that could
possibly be said. It had been inexcusable to fill a large volume with
the abuse of reason; nor would such an abuse have been tolerable, even
for a few pages, if some under-plot, of more consequence than the
apparent design, had not been carried on.

Some persons have thought that the advantages of the state of nature
ought to have been more fully displayed. This had undoubtedly been a
very ample subject for declamation; but they do not consider the
character of the piece. The writers against religion, whilst they oppose
every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own. If
some inaccuracies in calculation, in reasoning, or in method, be found,
perhaps these will not be looked upon as faults by the admirers of Lord
Bolingbroke; who will, the editor is afraid, observe much more of his
lordship's character in such particulars of the following letter, than
they are likely to find of that rapid torrent of an impetuous and
overbearing eloquence, and the variety of rich imagery for which that
writer is justly admired.

A LETTER TO LORD ****.

Shall I venture to say, my lord, that in our late conversation, you were
inclined to the party which you adopted rather by the feelings of your
good nature, than by the conviction of your judgment? We laid open the
foundations of society; and you feared that the curiosity of this search
might endanger the ruin of the whole fabric. You would readily have
allowed my principle, but you dreaded the consequences; you thought,
that having once entered upon these reasonings, we might be carried
insensibly and irresistibly farther than at first we could either have
imagined or wished. But for my part, my lord, I then thought, and am
still of the same opinion, that error, and not truth of any kind, is
dangerous; that ill conclusions can only flow from false propositions;
and that, to know whether any proposition be true or false, it is a
preposterous method to examine it by its apparent consequences.

These were the reasons which induced me to go so far into that inquiry;
and they are the reasons which direct me in all my inquiries. I had
indeed often reflected on that subject before I could prevail on myself
to communicate my reflections to anybody. They were generally me