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fortuitous , then every event which takes place in the universe must be truly and " properly contingent . How then conies it to pass that causes should not often act without being followed by their effects , and that effects should not spring up without being preceded by their causes ? Moreover , as that which is contingent , or
altogether independent of previous circumstances , ( co ? ild it happen at all , ) may happen at one time as well as at another , how comes it to pass that those events which we term effects uniformly follow those which we denominate causes ? Whence is it , for instance , that the motion of the cricket-ball always instantly succeeds
to the impulse trf * the bat ? Are not the chances against such a succession infinite , unless the phenomena which are thus conjoined are necessarily connected ? And will not this reasoning hold with respect to the innumerable combinations of cause and effect which take place throughout the whole of Trature ? Is it not then infinitely improbable that cause and effect should be uniformly conjoined ,
if they were not necessarily connected ? Here , I think , we have the necessary connexion of cause and effect made out by something like a process of the understanding-. But perhaps some sceptical philosopher may say , that
the contrary hypothesis , namely , that there is no necessary connexion between cause and effect , does not involve a contradiction , and , therefore , that it may possibly be true . This inference is not quite correct . It does
not follow because a proposition does not involve a contradiction , that therefore it may be true . Jt does indeed follow , that it may be true for any thing that we can prove to the contrary ; but our ignorance is not an
infallible criterion of possibility . Mr . Hume , I think , says , that this proposition , The sun will not rise to-morrow , does not involve a contradiction ; from which the intended inference doubtless is , that perhaps the sun may
only shift the notion of a cause from one thing to another , and would imply a necessary connexion between the real cause and the effect ; it docs not require a distinct consideration .
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not rise to ^ motTow . Nor does it it * . volve a < rontfradicti © n to say , that the sun did not rise yesterday ; so that had I slept through the day , I mi ght have had some doubt whether the
world was not during that period in , volved in total darkness . But the information of my friends would , j n this case , have Set me right . But who cduld have vouched for the truth of their information r The falsehood of the strongest testimony does not
amount to a contradiction ; consequently ( it might be said ) the strong . est testimony may be false . But methinks , Sir , I hear you say , Enough of these extravagancies ! I say so too , and will take my leave of them with observing , that scepticism , when in her ifcost increchikuts , or what she doubtless considers ^ ts her most philosophic mood , borders on the opposite extreme of puerile credulity . E . COGAN .
P . S . Your correspondent O . P . Q . [ p . 76 ] rs desirous of information respecting John xxi . 15 . The little which I have to communieateTie is welcome to , and that little will concern the Greek of the passage alone . If the sense were , " Lovestthou me more than these ?''
the Greek ought to have been , ayavfc € ^ c £ tzrXc * ov T 8 Taj v ; I i * eco $ lect but one passage in which / jls seems to be used as a contradistinctive , and that is Ear . Phoeniss . 447 , izctv&ou wovcov fxs , kui < n , y . cli -arcLcroLv TiroXiv , but here it is easy to rCad WGCVCrCll WOJ / COV CT £ K < Jfc ^ G £ KOCt 'WCLCTav wdKiv . See iEschylus Sept . contra Theb . v . 240 . But to return to the
passage under consideration ; suppose the sense to be , " Lovest thorn me more than these love me ? " the Greek is correct , and may be compared vviti the following passage of Aristophanes re TTAsts Tzraptxto fitXTrtvcu ; cepdpa ; , the construction of which is prerisely similar , and the pronoun is not inserted as the nominative to Txr&pexa .
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BedfordRow , Sir , March 1 > 1822 . 1 AM pleased with the liberal manner in which your publication w conducted . I am gratified with your readiness to insert hints and plans for spreading the truth . The instant you gave last month ( p . 94 ) of the scheme for promoting- Christian know-
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210 On thb Use of Liturgies .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1822, page 210, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2511/page/18/
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