PREFACE

Summary

Having been requested by the Editor of the North British Review to give an account of a work entitled Of a Plurality of Worlds, an Essay, I undertook the task, in the belief that it contained sentiments similar to my own, and that I should have the gratification of illustrating and recommending a doctrine which had long been the creed of the Philosopher, and the hope of the Christian. I was surprised, however, to find that, under a title calculated to mislead the public, the author had made an elaborate attack upon opinions consecrated, as I had thought, by Reason and Revelation; and had, in concluding his argument, not only adopted the Nebular Theory, so universally condemned as a dangerous speculation, but had taken a view of the condition of the Solar System, calculated to disparage the science of Astronomy, and to throw a doubt over the noblest of its truths.

Under ordinary circumstances I should have contented myself with such an analysis and criticism of the work as could be given within the narrow limits of a Review; but while the boldness of the author's speculations, and the ingenuity with which they were maintained, required a more elaborate examination of them, the new views which presented themselves to me during the study of the subject, demanded a copious detail of facts which could be given only in a separate Treatise.