Is Virtue, then, unless of Christian growth, And take, unenvied, the reward they sought. Celestial, though they knew not whence it came ; CowPER. PREFACE. THE subject of the present work has long and anxiously engaged the attention of the author. It was originally suggested to his mind, when occupied with his treatise on "the Connection of Natural and Revealed Theology;" but, from the extreme delicacy, as well as magnitude of the argument, it has been often laid aside, and as often resumed, under the conflicting feelings of its difficulty and its importance. At length, the conviction of his duty has overcome these doubts and hesitations; and whatever be its reception, it is given to the public, as the honest and deliberate sentiments of one, who has devoted his days and nights to its constant meditation. According to the most received computation, the population of the world is supposed to be as follows; Assuming these proportions, the whole number of Christians, at the present time, constitute about one-fifth of the human race. But the world, having existed four thousand years before the Christian era, and none, but the Jews, till that time, having been favoured with a Divine revelation, it becomes extremely hazardous, if not impossible, to estimate the amazing majority of the Heathen, as compared with members of the Jewish, or Christian Church. Perhaps, it would not be an exaggeration, if it were stated, as not less than an hundred to a unit. |