VI DEDICATION. 



eminent talents and high character of your 

 Lordship is one of its members ; and I am 

 persuaded that any effort in the cause of 

 letters and religion coming from that quarter, 

 will have for you an interest beyond what it 

 would otherwise possess. 



The subject proposed to me was limited : 

 my prescribed object is to lead the friends of 

 religion to look with confidence and pleasure 

 on the progress of the physical sciences, by 

 showing how admirably every advance in our 

 knowledge of the universe harmonizes with 

 the belief of a most wise and good God. To 

 do this effectually may be, I trust, a useful 

 labour. Yet, I feel most deeply, what I 

 would take this occasion to express, that 

 this, and all that the speculator concerning 

 Natural Theology can do, is utterly insuffi- 

 cient for the great ends of Religion ; namely, 

 for the purpose of reforming men's lives, of 

 purifying and elevating their characters, of 

 preparing them for a more exalted state of 

 being. It is the need of something fitted to 



