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A View of the Principal Deistical Writers in England in the Last and Present Century
A View of the Principal Deistical Writers in England in the Last and Present Century Author:John Leland General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1754 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: ' them we may find, as hath been already hinted, many good and fine obfervations relating to the ftudy and ufe of hiftory 5 delivered with great clearnefs of expreflion, and propriety of ientirnent. His directions are full of good fenfe, and. many of them very aptly illuftrated by proper and well-chofen inftances. In general, it wmft be allowed, that his obfervations concerning the ufefulnefs of hiftory, the advantages he afccibes to it, and the ends to be propofed in it, are, for trie moft part, jufti but there is not much in them that can be regarded as perfedly new. I do not fay this by way of difparage- ment, to detrad from the merit of his Reflections : perhaps on fuch a fubjecl it is fcarce pof- fible to make any obfervation which hath noc been made by fome one or other before. It is a fufficient commendation of an author, if he hath placed his refledions and obfervations in an agreeable and advantageous light, if he hath dif- pofed them in a beautiful order, and illustrated bis rules by proper exemplifications. But his Lord (hip feems not to be contented with praife of having done this. He appears to extremely defirous to have it thought, that obfervations are not only juft, but new, and f as other writers have not made beforehinj. declareth, in a paffage cited before from hi 15 Lctter, that the rules he gives " arc " different from thofe which writers on thc : have recommended, and " commonly practifed ." -- -And that " h " will have no regard to the methods prefcribed by others, or to the opinion and practice even " of the learned world f." And he fpeaks to the fame purpofe in his third ...« less