XIV INTRODUCTION. 



within the bosom of our universities. About 

 one year since, two members belonging to one 

 ^>f the principal colleges in Oxford, published 

 a book, entitled, " The Necessity of Atheism" 

 and they even had the audacity to attempt a 

 defence of the principles it contained, before 

 a convocation appointed to examine them. 

 These misguided men have been very pro- 

 -perly expelled the university, and the wretched 

 trash which they had written has been sup- 

 pressed. * 



It has been the object of my most parti- 

 cular solicitude to expose the errors of such 

 pursuits, and to point out the evils to which 

 they lead ; to show that such a system, instead 

 of leading to truth, not only recedes from it, 

 but perpetuates, and establishes, what is infi- 

 nitely worse than ignorance erroneous princi- 

 ples : that instead of exploring the essential 

 properties of matter, with relation to the sys- 

 tem of order and subordination which exists 

 throughout the whole system of nature, se- 



'* I think it proper to mention this fact as an illustration* 

 more than as a proof, of the truth of my assertions. What- 

 ever blame might formerly be imputed to the laxity of Uni- 

 versity morals, or University discipline, has been done away ; 

 there can be no cause of complaint now, the present system of 

 education bids fair to answer the ends for which it was origi- 

 nally designed. 



