BOOK I PART IV
very difficult, and reduces us to a very dan-
gerous dilemma, whichever way we answer
it. For if we assent to every trivial sugges-
tion of the fancy; beside that these suggestions
are often contrary to each other; they lead us
into such errors, absurdities, and obscurities,
that we must at last become ashamed of our
credulity. Nothing is more dangerous to reason
than the flights of the imagination, and nothing
has been the occasion of more mistakes among
philosophers. Men of bright fancies may in this
respect be compared to those angels, whom the
scripture represents as covering their eyes with
their wings. This has already appeared in so
many instances, that we may spare ourselves
the trouble of enlarging upon it any farther.
But on the other hand, if the consideration
of these instances makes us take a resolution