PREFACE. 



I HAVE chosen a subject which is capable of exciting an 

 unfavourable prejudice in a great number of my readers 

 at the very outset, both on account of its own intrinsic 

 difficulty, and also from the way they may regard it from 

 the point of view of religion. To discover the system 

 which binds together the great members of the creation 

 in the whole extent of infinitude, and to derive the 

 formation of the heavenly bodies themselves, and the 

 origin of their movements, from the primitive state of 

 nature by mechanical laws, seems to go far beyond the 

 power of human reason. On the other hand, religion 

 threatens to bring a solemn accusation against the audacity 

 which would presume to ascribe to nature by itself results 

 in which the immediate hand of the Supreme Being is 

 rightly recognized ; and it is troubled with concern, by 

 finding in the ingenuity of such views an apology for 

 atheism. I see all these difficulties well, and yet am not 

 discouraged. I feel all the strength of the obstacles 

 which rise before me, and yet I do not despair. I have 

 ventured, on the basis of a slight conjecture, to undertake 

 a dangerous expedition ; and already I discern the pro- 

 montories of new lands. Those who will have the boldness 



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