David Hartley

“ I think, however, that I cannot be called a system-maker, since I did not first form a system, and then suit the facts to it, but was carried on by a train of thoughts from one thing to another, frequently without any express design, or even any previous suspicion of the consequences that might arise. And this was most remarkably the case, in respect of the doctrine of necessity; for I was not at all aware, that it followed from that of association, for several years after I had begun my inquiries ”

“ Secondly, I do most firmly believe, upon the authority of the Scriptures, that the future punishment of the wicked will be exceedingly great both in degree and duration, i.e. infinite and eternal, in that real practical sense to which alone our conceptions extend. And were I able to urge any thing upon a profane careless world, which might convince them of the infinite hazard to which they expose themselves, I would not fail to do it, as the reader may judge even from those passages for which I have above apologized. ”

“ If the reader will be so favourable to me as to expect nothing more than hints and conjectures in difficult and obscure matters, and a short detail of the principal reasons and evidences in those that are clear, I hope he will not be much disappointed. However, be this as it will, I have in one part or other of these papers alleged all that I know material, in support of my system ”