ual faculties of the mind, will be apt to
reject as chimerical whatever strikes not in with the common received
notions, and with the easiest and most obvious principles of philosophy.
And no doubt there are some pains required to enter into these
arguments; though perhaps very little are necessary to perceive the
imperfection of every vulgar hypothesis on this subject, and the little
light, which philosophy can yet afford us in such sublime and such
curious speculations. Let men be once fully perswaded of these two
principles, THAT THERE, IS NOTHING IN ANY OBJECT, CONSIDERed IN ITSELF,
WHICH CAN AFFORD US A REASON FOR DRAWING A CONCLUSION BEYOND it; and,
THAT EVEN AFTER THE OBSERVATION OF THE FREQUENT OR CONSTANT CONJUNCTION
OF OBJECTS, WE HAVE NO REASON TO DRAW ANY INFERENCE CONCERNING ANY
OBJECT BEYOND THOSE OF WHICH WE HAVE HAD EXPERIENCE; I say, let men be
once fully convinced of these two principles, and this will throw them
so loose from all common systems, that they will make no difficulty of
receiving any, which may appear the most extraordinary. These principles
we have found to be sufficiently convincing, even with regard to our
most certain reasonings from causation: But I shall venture to affirm,
that with regard to these conjectural or probable reasonings they still
acquire a new degree of evidence.

First, It is obvious, that in reasonings of this kind, it is not the
object presented to us, which, considered in itself, affords us any
reason to draw a conclusion concerning any other object or event. For
as this latter object is supposed uncertain, and as the uncertainty is
derived from a concealed contrariety of causes in the former, were any
of the causes placed in the known qualities of that object, they would
no longer be concealed, nor would our conclusion be uncertain.

But, secondly, it is equally obvious in this species of reasoning, that
if the transference of the past to the future were founded merely on a
conclusion of the understanding, it coued never occasion any belief or
assurance. When we transfer contrary experiments to the future, we
can only repeat these contrary experiments with their particular
proportions; which coued not produce assurance in any single event, upon
which we reason, unless the fancy melted together all those images
that concur, and extracted from them one single idea or image, which is
intense and lively in proportion to the number of experiments from which
it is deriv