Thy Goodness let me bound;
Or think thee Lord alone of Man,
When thousand Worlds are round.
I am, &c.
[G] Particularly from Fontenelle, &c.
LETTER the SECOND.
Concerning the Nature of Mathematical Certainty, and the various Degrees of Moral Probability proper for Conjecture.
SIR,
Y
You know how much I am an Enemy to the taking of any thing for granted, merely because a Person of reputed Judgment, has been heard to say, it absolutely is so; an Ipse dixit, and implicit Faith in some Cases, may be both necessary and useful; but here, in Astronomy, I mean, every Man's Reason, by the Help of a very little Mathematicks, is able to bring wonderful Truths to Light without them; and Truths not only of the highest Importance to every Individual, but of a great and common Consequence to all Mankind: And as such, in all Ages of the World, have been judged worthy to be enquired into, by the best and wisest of Philosophers.