25 A View of ibe DEisTIcAL Writers. Let. 26.

*¹ ſubject in a clear and ſufficient light:— That inſtead of ſet- ting up a light ſufficient to enlighten a large room, they go about with a fmall taper, and whilſt they illuminate one corner, darken the reſt:— That they puzzle and perplex the *« plaineſt thing in the world, ſometimes by citations little to * the purpoſe, or of little authority; ſometimes by a great ap- ** Paratus of abſtract reaſoning, and by dint of explanation.— ** Read Selden and Grotius, read Cumberland, read Pußfendorf, ¹if you have leiſure or patience for it.— There are many curi- « ous reſearches, mo doubt, and many excellent obſervations * in theſe writers; but they ſeem to be great writers on this « fubject, by much the ſame right, as he might be called a ¹e great traveller who ſhould go from London to Paris by the *¹⁴Caßeæ f Good Hope k.“ I think it is not eaſy to convey a more contemptible idea of any writers, than he hath here done of theſe great men. It is to be ſuppoſed therefore, that he propoſes to lead men a more clear and direct way to the know- lege of the law of nature; eſpecially ſince he hath declared, that“ all that can be ſaid to any real or uſeful purpoſe con- ² cerning that law, is extremely plain l.“

Beſides occaſional paſſages in which he makes mention of the law of nature, this is the principal ſubject oſ ſeveral of the Fragments and Eſſays of which his fifth volume conſiſts, par- ticularly of the third, fifth, ſixth, ſeventh, eighth, ninth, ſix- teenth, ſeventeenth, eighteenth, and twenty-ſecond, of theſe Fragments and Eſſays. But all theſe together are far from making up any thing that can with the leaſt propriety be called a treatiſe on the law of nature; and as his Lordſhip generally ſeems to think himfelf above treating things in a methodical way, we are left to collect his ſentiments by comparing ſeveral parts of his works together. and forming a judgment as well as we can. He has neither diſtinctly explained the principles of that law, nor purſued thoſe principles to their regular conſe- quences, nor formed any deductions from them that can be of great uſe for the direction and inſtruction of mankind.

As to the law of nature in general, he tells us, that the «« law of nature is the law of reaſon. A right uſe of that fa- culty which God has given us, collects that law from the „nature of things, as they ſtand in the ſyſtem which he has conſtituted n.“ Or, as he ęlſewhere expreſſeth it,“It is a law which God has given to all his human creatures, en-

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*Vol. v. p. 66. ¹ Ibid. p. 67. a Ibid p. 83. 5 ¹⁴ acted