Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/28

xxiv author is a civilian; that they think themselves able to perform his business, and that he does not think himself fit for theirs. In short, it follows, that instead of attacking him with such asperity, they would have done better to have felt the value of what he has said in favour of religion: which he has equally respected and defended: I shall now make some reflections.

"That manner of reasoning is not good, which being employed against any good book whatsoever, will make it appear as bad as the worst book whatsoever; and which being employed against any bad book whatsoever, may make it appear as good as the best book whatsoever.

"That manner of reasoning is not good, which to those things that are the subject of dispute, calls in others that are foreign to the purpose, and which confounds the several sciences and the principles of each science.

"We ought not to dispute upon a work built upon a science, from reasons that may be brought against the science itself. Rh