THE
ANALYST.
I. 
HOUGH I am a Stranger to your Perſon, yet I am not, Sir, a Stranger to the Reputation you have acquired, in that branch of Learning which hath been your peculiar Study; nor to the Authority that you therefore aſſume in things foreign to your Profeſſion, nor to the Abuſe that you, and too many more of the like Charader, are known to make of ſuch undue Authority, to the miſleading of unwary Perſons in matters of the higheſt Concernment, and whereof your mathematical Knowledge can by no means qualify you to be a competent Judge. Equity indeed and good Senſe would incline one to diſregard the Judgment of Men, in Points which they have not conſidered or examined. But ſeveral who make the loudeſt Claim to thoſe Qualities, do, nevertheleſs, the very thing they would ſeem to deſpiſe, clothing themſelves in the Livery of other Mens opinions, and putting on a general deference for the Judgment of you, Gentlement, who are preſumed to be of all Men the greateſt Maſters of Reſon, to be moſt converſant about diſtinct Ideas, and never to take things upon truſt, but always clearly to ſee your way, as Men whoſe conſtant Employment is the deducing Truth by the juſteſt inference from the moſt evident Principles. With this bias on their Minds, they ſubmit to your Deciſions where you have no right to decide. And that this is one ſhort way of making Infidels I am credibly informed.
II. Whereas then it is ſuppoſed, that you apprehend more diſtinctly, conſider more cloſely, infer more juſtly, conclude more accurately than other men, and that you are therefore leſs religious becauſe more judicious, I ſhall claim the privilege of a Free-Thinker; and take the Liberty to inquire into the Object, Principles, and Method of Demonſtration admitted by the Mathematicians of the preſent Age, with the ſame freedom that you preſume to treat the Principles and Myſteries of Religion; to the end, that all Men may ſee what right you have to lead, or what Encouragement others have to follow you. It hath been an older remark that Geometry is an excellent Logic. And it muſt be owned, that when the Definitions are clear; when the Poſtulata cannot be refuſed, nor the Axioms denied; when from the diſtinct Contemplation and Compariſon of Figures, their Properties are derived, by a perpetual well-connected chain of Conſequences, the Objects being ſtill kept in view, and the attention ever fixed upon them; there is acquired an habit of reaſoning, cloſe and exact and methodical: which habit ſtrengthens and ſharpens the Mind, and being transferred to other Subjects, is of general uſe in the inquiry after Truth. But how far this is the caſe of our Geometrical Analyſts, it may be worth while to conſider.
