cant spot in a district so fully occupied, the next object is to fix upon ground which stands most in need of farther cultivation *. This view of the subject determined me, among the various lines of argument which all tend to the same point, to rest my principal evidence of the existence of the Creator, upon the credibility of the Mosaic records of the creation. ther does it appear that the most unanswerable argument, or irrefragable demonstration, can produce a conviction at all comparable to that which arises from a firm belief that the fact in question has been made known to us by revelation.

Nei

I am aware that it may be urged as an objection to this plan, that it carries us away from NATURAL theology. theology.

But, if it does so, we are only following the

* When the plan of this work was arranged, and the first part of it written, Dr. Graves's learned Discourses on the Pentateuch had not appeared; nor Dr. Ireland's equally able Lectures on Christianity and Paganism compared,

i

course to which the subject itself must lead every reflecting mind. That there is a Creator,

All Nature cries aloud in all her works;

but Nature, though she always proclaimed the same truth, yet spoke in vain to the sages of antiquity, who either altogether failed to interpret her language, or suffered the still whisper of "Divine Philosophy" to be lost amidst the various bustle of the world. It is true, we understand astronomy better than Thales or Pythagoras, and natural history and anatomy better than Aristotle or Galen: the treatises of Ray, or Derham, or Paley, could not have been written two thousand years ago but the ancients, imperfect as their sciences were, knew more than enough of the harmony and design of the universe, to draw out an unanswerable argument from final causes: and, in point of fact, they did draw out both that and other arguments so far as to leave us indisput

able proof that the God of NATURAL THEOLOGY will never be any thing more than the dumb idol of philosophy: neglected by the philosopher himself, and unknown to the multitude; acknowledged in the closet, and forgotten in the world.

The real use of Natural Theology, is to show the strong probability of that being true which revelation declares. For, when Natural Theology has told all her story, the reasonable question presses us still, Has, then, the Creator, whose existence you point out so clearly, maintained no communication with this visible emanation of his power? Has he revealed no commands, and prescribed no worship to the human race? Then he remains the inactive deity of philosophic theism* the indifferent spectator of the crimes, the virtues, the cares, and the sorrows of mankind :

The doctrine of Socrates affords the only material *xception.

Who sees with equal eyes, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall;
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,

And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

The truth is, however, that to descend from the height to which we have been gradually raised by Revelation, and argue still upon the level of unassisted reason, would be impossible if it were desirable, and unprofitable even if it were possible, It would be impossible, because the rays of knowledge which Revelation has generally diffused will imperceptibly penetrate, however thick a veil we may choose to spread before our eyes and it would be unprofitable, because, as I have already hinted, philosophy may silence atheism, but will never command practical obedience, or inspire practical devotion *

* "The bounds of this knowledge are, that it sufficeth to convince atheism, but not to inform religion; and therefore there was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist, because the light of nature might have led him to confess a God; but miracles have been wrought to convert idolaters and the superstitious, because no light of nature extendeth to declare the will and true worship of God," Bacon's Advancement of Learning.

For continuation, See after page XXVIII

[ mis placed. ]

CONTENTS

OF THE

FIRST VOLUME.

PART I,

CHAP. I.

On the Opinion of the Eternity of the World.

Preliminary Observations.

Page 29

Statement of the Opinion of the Eternity of the World.
Metaphysical Objections to that Opinion, from the Nature
of an universal Substance; from the Existence of Mo-
tion; and from the Nature of necessary Existence.

the World to Chance.

Statement of Epicurus's Cosmogony.

Its Contradiction to Reason and Experience.

Page 48

Chance never called in by natural Philosophers to account
for Phænomena. Instance from the Strata of the
Earth and Saltness of the Sea, &c.

Conclusion as to the Effect of the Argument from final

Causes,