The abrupt beginning of the following Paper will not (‘tis hop’d) be wonder’d at, when ‘tis declar’d, that the whole Excursion is to be look’d upon as a Fragment of a Discourse, from which, for certain Reasons, it has been separated in its present Form. In which it ought to pass but for a rough Draught, the Nobleness, Sublimity and Sacredness of the Subject, not allowing the Authour to presume, that the first thoughts he committed to Paper about it, might be for good and all parted with by him, till he shall have heedfully revis’d and corrected them; and left in them as few faults, as the disproportion of so vast and sublime a Subject to his slender abilities, will permit. The loose sheets this Paper consists of, having been written at somewhat distant times and places, and hastily tack’d together; so that when the latter sheets were penning the former were often not at hand: ‘tis hop’d that if some few things should chance to be either misplaced or repeated, the fault will be thought venial, and be more easily excused than it could in the Authour’s Circumstances be avoided. And lastly; notice is to be given, that those other long Passages that are included in1 Paratheses, may with the Authour’s consent (or rather by his desire) be skip’d over; being but Conjectural thoughts, written and inserted for the sake of a Virtuoso, that is a great Friend to such kind of adventurous speculations.
Contents · Of the High Veneration Man’s Intellect Owes to God →
Footnotes
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Such figures as these. []. ↩