INTRODUCTION. XIX 



highest order, always secure a man from 

 falling into it. The love of truth, and of its 

 Almighty Author, is the only sure guide that 

 will conduct the aspirant to its purest foun- 

 tains. High intellectual powers are a glorious 

 gift of God, which, when associated with the 

 qualities just named, lead to results as glorious, 

 and to the light of real unsophisticated know- 

 ledge. But knowledge puffetli up, and if it 

 stands alone, there is great danger of its 

 leading its possessor into a kind of self-w^or- 

 ship, and from thence to self-delusion, and the 

 love of hypothesis. 



It is much to be lamented that many bright 

 lights in science, some from leaning too much 

 to their own understanding, and others, pro- 

 bably from having Religion shown to them, 

 not with her own winning features, nor in her 

 own simple dress, but with a distorted aspect, 

 and decked meretriciously, so that she appears 

 what she is not, without further inquiry and 

 without consulting her genuine records, have 

 rejected her and fallen into grievous errors. 

 To them might be applied our Saviour's 

 words, Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures. 

 These observations apply particularly to two 

 of the most eminent philosophers of the 



