Page images
PDF
EPUB

CONTROVERSIALIST,

AND

LITERARY MAGAZINE:

DEVOTED TO THE IMPARTIAL AND DELIBERATE DISCUSSION OF
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS IN

RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, POLITICS,
SOCIAL ECONOMY, ETC.,

AND TO THE PROMOTION OF SELF-CULTURE AND GENERAL
EDUCATION.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

PREFACE.

THE stir of thought-like the motion of the winds and of the ocean-prevents stagnation, and promotes advancement. No man's opinions ought to be stereotyped. To be progressive is the only way to be truly wise. Controversy is as essential to the health of the mind as exercise is to the health of the body. Investigation is the way to acquire, not only accuracy, but readiness of thought. Every thinking man knows that the lapse of years not only changes the facts which surround him, but also his relation to and knowledge of them ;

"For the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the sun."

Hence a revision of the opinions a man holds-if he would be honest to himself-becomes absolutely requisite. No such revision as can be satisfactory is possible to those whose minds have not been trained and practised in the comparison and weighing of evidence, and in attention to "the way in which statements are put." Controversy is the gymnasium of reason; that which develops its skill, and makes it fit, in exigencies, "to do the duty that lies nearest it." This argument justifies an education in polemics-such an education as this serial affords, in "the impartial and deliberate discussion of important questions." To this prime principle we have steadfastly adhered through our successive volumes, and there seems to be no wane in the interest felt by our readers in the controversial department of this magazine, nor in the cogency of thought and vigour of expression which our constant or occasional contributors bring to the "tented field" of debate. Coming, as these papers do, from widely different spheres of life and culture, of geographical place, and personal status, they exhibit

« PreviousContinue »