tion to the novel form of the argument in Treatise III., he might, perhaps, plead in his defence the example of all his predecessors, in an uninterrupted series, from the fathers of philosophy, down to himself the humblest of their disciples. But far different from ostentation, or a propensity to selfpraise, is the motive which compels him, thus unwillingly, to advert to the point, upon which he rests a hope, that the present volume may not be wholly unacceptable or without advantage to the public.
There is, however, another trait, upon which he can found a more gratifying, if not a better, claim to some originality. Having observed, that many of those works, which have been composed in defence of the Christian faith, abound with much virulent, and in his opinion exceedingly unjust attacks, upon those, and their writings, who have been principal leaders of the opposite opinions, he has been careful to avoid the use of such weapons, which, in a contest of argument, are equally ungenerous and absurd. What can be greater prejudice than to deny to SHAFTESBURY, to BOLINGBROKE, to HOBBES, and others, whose names are not inferior to the most distinguished ornaments of the age in which they lived, the credit of a small portion of sense? What can be more disgusting to a reasonable and impartial mind, than the effrontery of joining such characters as these, in an indiscriminating censure with the common herd of libertines and jesters, persons of little education, and of the vulgarest notions and pursuits, of whom the sect is mainly composed? But,