432 



I will venture to afngn alfo another reafon. Abbe Barruel has proved, 

 " That one of the refources of the Antichriftian Confpirators was to 

 " infinuale error and infidelity into thofe articles, that might be deemed 

 " leaft fufceptible of them, fuch as hiftory and natural philofophy." 

 It therefore becomes neceflary for thofe, who revere the opinions in 

 which they were educated, to watch thefe new fyftcms as they ap- 

 pear, and enquire into their remote tendency, though unavowed by 

 the author. A reference to the real ftate of things (the Book of Nature, 

 as Dr. HtiUon expreffes himfelf,) feldcm fails to deteft the futihty of 

 fuch whimfies, and I hope will alfo overturn his own theory, whatever 

 may have been his motive for difleminating it. 



The efficacy of this mode of proceeding in a cafe to which I take 

 the liberty of digreffing, will, I hope, juftify me in advifing thofe, who 

 admit the neceffity of repelling thefe frequent attacks upon revelation, 

 firft, carefully to afcertain the fads, before they fuffer themfelves to be 

 led into the mazes of theory, and puzzled by fpeculations a priori. 



A popular and lively traveller, Mr. Brydone, ftatcs, that it has been 

 difcovcred in Sicily, that the world is of a much older date than has 

 generally been fuppofed ; that, by fmking wells, fucceffive flrata of 

 lava have been found (at laci not lefs than feven) with layers of 

 vegetable earth between them. Now, as thefe lavas mud have been 

 produced by fucceffive eruptions, if the time can be eftimated, which is 

 required for a current of glowing lava to acquire a covering of vege- 

 table earth, and that time be multiplied by fix (the number of layers 

 of earth) we have the period of the firft eruption, which is thus thrown 

 back to a diftance utterly incompatible with the chronology of Mofes. 



Though this argument has been often refuted, yet, as it is ftill 

 urged with much triumph, I will venture to encounter it upon new 

 ground. 



From 



