made, and we honour their memory: all this is perfectly right; they are benefactors to mankind, and as such are entitled to our esteem and gratitude: but our applause ought by no means to exceed its just bounds; let it be always remembered that GOD is the only source of light, knowledge, wisdom, and power;— "the author and giver of every good and perfect gift;"-the GREAT FIRST CAUSE of whatever is calculated to promote the comfort and happiness of man. When any discovery is made, let it be remembered, that it is his good Providence which by latent means brings about the concurrence of events by which it is effected, and therefore to him we ought to consecrate not only our first, but a lasting tribute of praise. But man, who is merely the instrument, acting by means of powers with which (independent of his own consent or agency) he has been previously endued, does not scruple to give and receive that honour which is due only to the Creator. "Men homage pay to Men, "Thoughtless beneath whose dreadful eye they bow.". Therefore, while we erect magnificent statues to record the worth of philosophers, statesmen, and heroes, whose lives have been devoted to the service of mankind, and whose actions claim our admiration and gratitude; let us not be forgetful of Him, from whom they derived wisdom to plan, and strength to execute; of Him in whom we all "live, move, and have our being:" who has repeatedly declared himself to be "a jealous God," that "he will not resign his honour to another," and that "those who honour him he will honour; but those who despise him shall be lightly esteemed." But, notwithstanding these awful sanctions, there are to be found some who boldly attempt to exclude THE ALMIGHTY from his own creation, and others, still more impiously daring, who pretend to prove by arguments drawn from the sciences, which they pervert and misapply, that there is no such Being 1. Of the former kind may be reckoned those who deny the existence of a superintending and particular Providence; they pretend that the GREAT CREATOR having made and furnished the world, put it in motion, and imposed on it certain laws, has left it entirely to its own care and management. To this class belong all the numerous worshippers of nature instead of Nature's GOD, and those who ascribe all events to fortune, luck, or chance, three imaginary agents which have been aptly called the Fool's Trinity. Of the latter kind the refined philosophy of modern times has produced multitudes. Berkeley and Against these merciless sophists, who (while they attempt to deprive even the wretched of his only consolation, Hope) call themselves philanthropists, it is the duty of every friend of religion, virtue, science, and mankind, to make a resolute stand. Those especially, to whom the sacred charge of education is entrusted, should be careful to guard the tender minds of their pupils against the dangerous tenets of such infidel writers, by embracing fit opportunities of exposing the fallacy, inconsistency, and evil tendency of their arguments; by pointing out the nature, object, and limits of demonstration, and of moral evidence; shewing how these differ, and instancing proper cases Hume (the former in his Principles of Human Knowledge, and Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous; and the latter in A Treatise on Human Nature and his Essays) have attempted to prove, that we cannot be certain of our own existence, or that any thing exists, &c. Now the obvious inferences which follow from this and other articles of their creed (which we cannot here enumerate) are such as are destructive of all distinction between virtue and vice, and lead directly to atheism. Some of the inferences which Hume has drawn from his own sceptical theory, are of so blasphemous a tendency, that Dr. Beattie (his great castigator) refuses to commit them to paper. Gibbon is a most dangerous writer on the side of infidelity; under a shew of great candour and acquiescence, the attentive reader may perceive, that he is always aiming a mortal stab at Revelation. Of Voltaire it has been truly said, that he "built God a church, and laughed his word to scorn." Had this elegant writer been content to employ his satirical talents in exposing the knavery of quacks and pretenders of every description, without attempting to undermine and subvert those principles on which alone mankind's best hopes are founded, every honest man would have been obliged to him. D'Alembert, Diderot, Condorcet, Là Place, Robinet, and others of the compilers of the French Encyclopedia have done their utmost to make that extensive work a vehicle for disseminating the poison of infidelity. Of Halley, Robins, Thomas Paine, Godwin, Darwin, Walcot, and the writers of some of our magazines and reviews I shall say nothing; it will be necessary merely to inform my youthful readers, that every cavil which these or others have started against the truths of Christianity, has been refuted over and over again; but notwithstanding this, they, or their disciples, are daring enough still to persist, and to call on the world to admire their sagacity and penetration; and for what? for reviving old and worn out quibbles, which have been satisfactorily answered a thousand years ago! Should any apology be required for introducing this subject here, I have only to say, that I have scrupulously copied the practice of these men; they have instilled the principles of infidelity and atheism by means of their books on science; and I endeavour to oppose them, only by declaring what I firmly believe to be true, and beneficial to society, in mine. to which they severally apply: and, lastly, by constantly referring the whole, and every part of knowledge, back to its divine original. This the illustrious Newton, with a modesty not less conspicuous than his great talents, felt a pleasure in doing: the same has been the practice of Bacon, Boyle, Nieuwentyt, Ray, Derham, Watts, Jones, Ryland, Adams, and others: in this respect, the labours of these great men confer an honour on the sciences, and a lasting obligation on mankind. On the Rise and Progress of the Mathematics. The labours of the early inhabitants of the world, were directed solely to the supply of their immediate wants. Necessity, the fruitful parent of invention, exited all their skill and address, to procure the means of sustenance and defence. These first efforts, rude as they were, and unpromising as they would now appear, rank as the lowest step in the progressive scale of knowledge; by means of a series of accumulated improvements which have successively taken place during the space of nearly six thousand years, they have at length grown into that almost endless variety of useful results, which supply the necessities, the conveniences, and the luxuries of the present age. The subjects of human knowledge, as far as relate to its inquiries, are either theoretical or practical; the former is called SCIENCE, the latter ART; and since practice must have been established long before theory could be formed, it plainly follows that every science must have been an art at first; and since the observation and comparison of a great number of facts are necessary to constitute a theory, it is evident, that some ages must have elapsed before any thing like science could have been formed, and it must have been still later before sufficient leisure, information, and inclination would concur, to induce any person to commit these facts, comparisons, and observations to writing, It might be expected, in an inquisitive and learned age like the present, that to trace the arts and sciences back to their origin, would be no very difficult task: but this is not the case; whoever undertakes to examine the history of former times with this view, will find himself grievously disappointed: he will find that whilst the freaks of tyrants, which have desolated the earth, are recorded with disgusting minuteness, the progress of the human mind, in quest of knowledge beneficial to mankind, is almost totally neglected. Scarcely any particulars connected with early researches of this kind have been noticed by historians; and of the few facts which have been casually transmitted to us, the accounts are so involved in obscurity and contradiction, that very little dependence can be placed on them. In what follows therefore, we shall merely notice the countries where the Mathematics are reported to have been first cultivated, and the principal nations and individuals, by which they have been successively improved, and at length transmitted down to us. It is is generally believed that the mathematical sciences were first cultivated by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, the two most ancient nations on record, at an early period after the flood ". Of the nature and extent of these sciences, as they then stood, we are not informed; but it is generally believed that these ancient people were accustomed to make celestial observations in order to understand the seasons, and for the purposes of astrology, a fallacious art for which they appear to have been early distinguished. We likewise gather from circumstances, that Numbering, Measuring, practical Mechanics, and Building, were arts with which they were not unacquainted. From Chaldea the science was transmitted to other neighbouring countries, among which Egypt is celebrated as being for a long time the seat, and chief source of learning. The Egyptian priests, "directed by the laws of their institution to study and collect the secrets of nature, were become the depositaries of all human knowledge;" they were consulted on every difficult subject, not only by their own unlearned countrymen, but the most m Dr. Robertson. With the state of knowledge among the antediluvians we are almost entirely unacquainted. "Tubal Cain was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," and Jubal" was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ:" this is, I believe, all that Moses says on the subject. Josephus affirms, that the sons of Seth were astronomers. Indeed we have reason to conclude from the great length of human life, and the consequent excessive population of the world before the flood, that arts and sciences might have been cultivated by them to a considerable extent. Probably Noah's sons possessed all the learning of that period: if so, it will help to account for the skill in Architecture, Astronomy, &c. which we find displayed within about a century after the flood. renowned philosophers of all the neighbouring parts flocked to them for instruction °. The Phenicians were a trading and flourishing people as early as A. C. 1500, they excelled in learning and manufactures, and to them have been attributed the invention of letters P, arithmetic, commerce, and navigation 1. • According to the president Goguet, Egypt has the honour of being the first nation which established a public Library; this was contained in one of the buildings forming a part of the magnificent tomb of their king Osymandyas, who lived about the time of the Trojan war, A. C. 1200; over the door of this library was written, "largov uxãs, The shop for the Physic of the Soul. See the Origines Sacræ, by Stillingfleet, vol. 1. p. 55. The learned and industrious Sir Walter Ralegh has, from the writings of Diodorus, Diogenes Laertius, Jamblicus, Philo Judæus, Eusebius, &c. collected a summary of the Egyptian learning, as it was in the days of Moses; but he does not pretend to answer for its correctness: "It was divided," says he, " into four parts, viz. Mathematicall, Naturall, Divine, and Morall. In the mathematicall part, which is distinguisht into Geometrie, Astronomie, Arithmetick, and Musick, the ancient Egyptians exceed all others." Historie of the World, Part I. B. 2. Ch. 6. P Lucan thus expresses the current opinion on this subject: Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris. The Phenician alphabet, consisting of sixteen letters, was carried to Greece by Cadmus, A. C. 1493; to these eight were afterwards added, viz. four by Palamedes, A. C. 1190, and the remaining four by Simonides, A. C. 540. The invention of writing is likewise ascribed (by a writer whom Pliny has mentioned) to Memnon, an Æthiopian king, who flourished during the Trojan war. 4 According to the following verse of Tibullus, Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros. The Phenicians passed the Strait of Gibraltar as early as A. C. 1250; and (as Bochart supposes) discovered the Cassiterides, or Scilly islands, A. C. 904. According to Herodotus (lib. 4.) they were the first who sailed round Africa; for this purpose they were furnished with ships by Nechus, King of Egypt. Sailing from the Red Sea westward, they doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and after three years spent on the voyage, continued their route to Egypt. Three other attempts of the same kind were made, as we are informed, by the ancients, but only one of these succeeded. If the tradition respecting these voyages was known in Europe, it does not seem to have obtained much credit; for we find, that as late as the fifteenth century, the passage round the south of Africa was deemed impossible, and therefore never attempted. The success of Vasco da Gama, who in 1497 doubled the Cape of Good Hope, was heard of, throughout Europe, with the utmost astonishment. The Phenicians were almost the only people among whom we find any very early traces of a system of Philosophy. Palestine contained public schools for |