PREFACE. xHi 



distinguished abettors of heresy or of infidelity, 

 he is entreated to remember that justice is due to 

 all men. A man who is a bad Christian may be 

 a very excellent mathematician, astronomer, or 

 chemist ; and one who denies or blasphemes the 

 Saviour, may write profoundly and instructively 

 on some branches of science highly interesting to 

 mankind. It is proper to commiserate the mistakes 

 of such persons, to abhor their blasphemy, and to 

 warn men against their fatal delusions ; but it is 

 surely difficult to see either the justice or utility of 

 withholding from them that praise of genius or of 

 learning to which they are fairly entitled. 



It will probably be remarked, by the intelligent 

 reader, that a due proportion between the parts 

 of this work, according to the relative importance 

 and extent of each subject, is not ahvays preser- 

 ved. Had the manuscript been completed before 

 any part of it was sent to the press, faults of this 

 kind would, no doubt, have been, in some de- 

 gree, avoided ; but the truth is, that the first 

 })ages of the manuscript were put into the hands 

 of the printer before a single chapter of the work 

 had been fully written ; and each successive sheet 

 was prepared, from the matei-ieils previously col- 

 lected, at the call of the printer, and amidst 

 the hurry of incessant professional labours. It 

 is scarcely necessary to add, that this race with 

 tiie press frequently rendered impossible that labo- 

 rious investigatio.n, ar^d that careful correction 

 which were highly desirable: nor coald the au- 

 thor excuse himself for conduct so manifestly in- 

 iliscreet, had he duly considered beibrehand the 



