PREFACE. 



I PROBABLY never should have ventured to 

 engage in the composition and pubHcation of 

 a work hke the present, had not that task 

 been assigned me by my nomination as one of 

 the writers of the series of Bridgewater Trea- 

 tises, and had I not deeply felt the honour 

 done me by that appointment, as well as the 

 importance of the duty which it imposed. 

 The hope, in which I have indulged, that my 

 labours might eventually be useful, has been 

 my chief support in this arduous undertaking ; 

 the progress of which has throughout been 

 seriously impeded by the various interruptions 

 incident to my profession, by long protracted 

 anxieties and afflictions, and by the almost 

 overwhelming pressure of domestic calamity. 

 The object of this treatise is to enforce the 



