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A Demonstration of the Cer∣tainty of Things, and of the Being of a God.
AS there is not a more valuable Privilege bestow'd by the gracious Donor of all good things upon any part of his Creation than that which the Possessors of it call by the name of right Under∣standing or Reason, so could there not have been a greater Curse inflicted on rational Beings than if what they term right Reason were nothing but Delusion and Infatuation: for beside that Principle, which is unalienable from a rati∣onal Nature, of eschewing all Error as such, the consequence would have been either, that we must have pursu'd false Ends through sincere Means, or real Ends through false Means, or lastly false Ends through false Means; and the effects of either of these had prov'd intolerable, the more because the inconvenience would not have attended two or three Counsels of our Lives only, but all our Motions and Endeavours whether of greater or less Importance: nay so miserable had been our state, that if we could have been sensible of it, no more comfort could have been had than remedy; and if insensible, the whole drudgery of the Delusion must have been first entirely finish'd, e'er we could so much