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the effect of the wiſdom and power of an intelligent cauſe; and thus to confirm the argument taken from final cauſes for the exiſtence of the Deity. It will be eaſy to ſee that the converſe problem ſolved in this eſſay is more directly applicable to this purpoſe; for it ſhews us, with diſtindtneſs and preciſion, in every caſe of any particular order or recurrency of events, what reaſon there is to think that ſuch recurrency or order is derived from liable cauſes or regulations innature, and not from any of the irregularities of chance.
The two laſt rules in this eſſay are given without the deductions of them. I have choſen to do this becauſe theſe deductions, taking up a good deal of room, would ſwell the eſſay too much; and alſo becauſe theſe rules, though of conſiderable uſe, do not anſwer the purpoſe for which they are given as perfectly as could be wiſhed. They are however ready to be produced, if a communication of them ſhould be thought proper. I have in ſome places writ ſhort notes, and to the whole I have added an application of the rules in the eſſay to ſome particular caſes, in order to convey a clearer idea of the nature of the problem, and to ſhew how far the ſolution of it has been carried.
I am ſenſible that your time is ſo much taken up that I cannot reaſonably expect that you ſhould minutely examine every part of what I now ſend you. Some of the calculations, particularly in the Appendix, no one can make without a good deal of labour. I have taken ſo much care about them, that I believe there can be no material error in any of them; but ſhould there be any ſuch errors, I am the only perſon who ought to be conſidered as anſwerable for them.
