and the destiny of man, under more entire,-more simple,—and more comprehensive aspects;—and thus to produce a species of science more in accordance with the natural affections of man,and more applicable to the actual wants and capabilities of human life.

This, the reader will at least do him the justice to acknowledge, is to set a noble purpose before him ;and if it shall be found that he has not ultimately succeeded in his object,―he may, at any rate, expect that his failure will be graced with the inscription,

Magnis, tamen, excidit ausis.

But whether he succeeds or not, he knows that it is one of the best things that can happen to any person in life, to have before him a great and animating object;-and the whole prospect of life, he feels, is beautified to him by the hope of occasionally devoting himself to so many fine speculations,—and by the resolution of making such studies the chief amusement of his leisure.

Meanwhile, having now completed what relates more immediately to practice, or may be useful for guiding the devotional feelings of men,-he intends to devote himself, as a temporary recreation, to other topics of a less general, and perhaps more animating kind.

Of the confidence which the Author has in the truth of the principles by which the present Work is characterized,——and in their subserviency to the best interests of mankind,-the reader may judge from the following statement :—

The Work was sketched, its principles settled,— and the whole plan of their connexion formed, at a time when the Author had little expectation that he was again to be permitted to take an active part in that living scene, the duties of which he has endeavoured to describe,-and when,-with no view certainly of literary distinction, nor any care about literary honours,-but with an earnest desire to as

certain the duty actually assigned to man on earth, he busied himself,—with that deep anxiety which is known only to those who believe themselves to be bidding "farewell to time,”—in endeavouring to find out what is the object really proposed to man as a subject of the kingdom of God,—and how far he himself had succeeded in acting conformably to that object.

No length of days can ever efface from his mind the remembrance of that bright summer noon,—— made more bright and infinitely more affecting by the thought, that such brightness might be seen but for a little,—when, being incapable of more active exertion, he sketched with his pencil,-in the open air, and amidst the blossoms and overshadowing foliage of that "cottage garden" which had been dear to him from infancy,-the whole series of views and principles which,-in a more finished form, but with no alteration whatever of their original design, -he now submits to the judgment of the public;indeed all subsequent reflection and investigation

have but served more deeply to impress him with the conviction that these principles are in strict agreement with the order of Nature, and with the arrangements of Providence ;-and he has, accordingly, only to add, that, having made this statement, he cannot doubt, the reader will give him entire credit, when he declares, that he now offers the Work to the public with the solemn belief, that the principles which it contains are in accordance with the purest truth, and that their adoption, as rules of conduct, would indeed make man " a Living Temple," -or, to use the fine words of the Divine Teacher, would bring" the kingdom of Heaven upon earth."

EDINBURGH, May 5, 1830.