DEDICATION. TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD BROUGHAM, &c. &c. &c. MY LORD, HOWEVER unworthy the following "Reflections" may appear of being laid before you, I yet venture to address them to Your Lordship, as your "Discourse of Natural Theology" was the original cause of their composition. With the utmost respect for Your Lordship's rank and genius, I must excuse myself from the repeated use of a ceremonious title, which, when writing, I passed over by choice, and when publishing, by necessity: for I could not but feel, that the conventional forms of reverence were scarcely compatible with the nature of my work. The critic will undoubtedly detect many imperfections in the following sketch, but he must not suppose that I was unconscious of the faults, which I was too often unable to correct. I have the honour to remain, MY LORD, Your Lordship's most humble and obedient servant, THE AUTHOR. THE world has taught me to honour the extent and variety of your abilities, as well as the wisdom, zeal, and success, which have distinguished some of your exertions; but I sincerely lament to find my convictions strongly opposed to the spirit and tendency of one of your most important and maturest efforts. If I am in error, it will be enough for me to ground my excuse upon my deficiency of judgment; but if, on the contrary, I am not mistaken, the importance of the truths which I advocate will be more than sufficient justification for my having intruded on your notice. It is no pleasing duty to inform you, and it can scarcely be gratifying to you to learn, that your full and free avowal of dependence on the Holy Scriptures comes almost too late for the benefit of many, who have B been led to attribute other sentiments to you. At your ripe age, when advancing towards the end of your public career, you declare your faith in the Book of Life and Immortality, it must, indeed, be painful to reflect, that your opinions on the subject of Revelation, have, till near the eleventh hour, been almost unknown and fruitless; or, I had well-nigh said, fruitful of evil. It is well, however, that the declaration is firmly advanced at the last, beyond the misinterpretation of those who might be glad to throw the lustre of your name over the darkness of their tenets. I truly regret that any should ever have supposed you a disregarder of evangelical truth; and I could wish that you may live long, fully to understand and rejoice in the knowledge of God's providence, as seen in the progress of Christianity; and that you may enjoy the delight of seeing your opinions and abilities co-operating with your prayers, when you say, "Father," "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We live in an age when Christianity (as was predicted) is taught and exemplified in all quarters of the world; and it is easy to prophesy, that, ere long, there will not be a city under heaven, in which some shall not be found by whom Gospel Truth is known and the Gospel Law obeyed. In the mean time, much remains to be done. A general intercourse and civilization, the schoolmaster and the missionary, with the Almighty's blessing, will continue to work success |
