VI PREFACE. 



One advantage will most certainly arise from the deter- 

 mined opposition which so many have manifested to my 

 theory : namely, any errors into which I may have fallen 

 either in facts or principles, will be eagerly sought for, de- 

 tected and exposed, " a consummation devoutly to be wish- 

 ed.' 7 After the controversy shall be terminated, and my 

 system admitted to take its place among the acknowledged 

 sciences, it will be time to write out a set of rules to assist 

 the mariner to use the wind in storms to the best advantage. 



Indeed, the system is so simple, that the intelligent sea- 

 man, without the formality of written rules, will have no 

 difficulty in turning it to practical account, as soon as he 

 becomes acquainted with it. 



" Truth has less of trouble and difficulty, of entanglement 

 and perplexity : of danger and hazard in it. )n Who, that 

 has witnessed it, has not grieved to see the noble mind of 

 many a youth, harassed with the "entanglement and per- 

 plexity " of the old system ! (201) Much mischief is done 

 by teaching a false system. The time wasted in learning 

 it is not the only evil ; by the fruitless efforts of the learner 

 to understand it, his ardor in the pursuit of knowledge, is 

 damped, and he insensibly receives the impression that 

 there is little to choose between truth and falsehood. But 

 let the light of truth pour in fresh on his mind, let him 

 penetrate mysteries heretofore thought inscrutable, let him 

 see there unnumbered contrivances, planned by infinite 

 wisdom and infinite goodness, for the convenience and hap- 

 piness of man, let him see that rains and changes of wind 

 are not accidental, but subject to laws as fixed as those 

 which govern the planetary motions, and that these laws 

 are not past finding out; zeal and animation in the pursuit 

 of knowledge, will then take the place of listlessness and 

 despair. 



Among the innumerable benefits arising from the adoption 



1 Tillotson. 



