IKtRODUCTION. 7 



intellectual vision occurs daily with respect to ob- 

 jects seen near at hand. Men have always beej) 

 unduly disposed to consider tlieir own times ^fs dis- 

 tinguished, above all others, by remarkable events. 

 The virtue or the vice, the knowledge or tJie igiio- 

 rance, the discoveries or the destructions, which 

 we personally witness, or of which we have recently 

 heard, are apt. to impress us more deeply, and to 

 be estimated more highly in the history of man, 

 than their real importance deserves. Hence no- 

 thing is more common than to hear men express 

 an opinion, that the country and the period in 

 w4iich their lot is cast are more awfully degenerate, 

 or more extensively enlightened,, accordin"g to the 

 occurrence or the object which happens to occupy 

 their minds, than the world ever before witnessed. 

 No doubt, a portion of this prejudice and partiality 

 cleaves to every mind, and must always interpose 

 an obstacle in the way of him who would- accu- 

 rately calculate the magnitude, and justly exhibit 

 the features, of recent events. 



But, after making every allowance for errors in 

 calculation which may arise from these several 

 sources, it will probably be acknowledged, that 

 the century of which we have just taken leave has 

 produced an unusual number of revolutions, and 

 at least some improvements, — In litj-ratuke and 



SCIENCE in POLITICAL PRINCIPLES ^md ESTABLISH- 

 MENTS — in the moral world — and in the christian 



CHURCH. 



To think of surveying each of these wide fields, 

 throughout its whole extent; and es})ecially to 

 think of conducting the survey with the miiuit«'- 

 ness of observation, and the profundity of research. 



