Memoirs of a traveller, now in retirement Volume 1 - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1806 edition. Excerpt: ...each other, but will make two inclinations, tending each toward the centre of the earth. i 132. Of Wit Among The Germans. Dupuy, who published the Perrom'ana, was the first who advanced the proposition so offensive to the Germans, that wit is very rare with them, and which has so greatly prejudiced them against French writers. In page 163 of the Perroniana, edit, of Daille, Amsterdam, 1669, he says, " Gretserus is much to be admired j he has " much wit, for a German." 133. Infidels Invited To Believe. Infidels say, the being of a God cannot fbe demonstrated. It is certain, however, that God exists, or that he does not; therft is no medium. But to which notion shall we give the preference? " Reason," says the Sceptic, "cannot aid you; an infinite " chaos separates us from the scene of which " you would judge. At that immense dis" tance a game is played, in which head or " tail may turn up--On which side then " will you bet? Reason cannot enable you " to deny either of the propositions: you " must not then condemn those who have " withdrawn themselves from this confu" sion; and he who takes head, and he who " prefers the reverse, are both equally " wrong. The only reasonable conduct is, " to stake nothing on the subject." The misfortune of this reasoning is, that you are compelled to make your stake; the contrary does not depend on your will: you are already embarked; and not to say that God is, is to assert that He is not. Which part will you take then? Weigh well the gain and the loss! In believing the existence of God, if you gain, you gain all: if you lose, nothing is lost. Do not hesitate, therefore, to say that He exist-. " But," says the Sceptic, " you stake too much." Let us examine that. Since you acknowledge the chance is equal, whether...