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CHAP. VI,

The general PLAN.

HE RULE OF REASON, which

I have attempted to establish in the laft chapter upon the preceding observations, is logical and philosophical, subject, I hope, to no cavil or objection: And, to exemplify this general Rule by applying it particularly to some of those important Parts of knowledge which are cultivated in this Lyceum of universal learning, or, in other words, to reduce the particular Parts under the general Rule, may to all who can peruse it be an useful, and to fome an interesting, work.

The PLAN of these Lectures will, therefore, attempt - To trace the distinct and proper PRINCIPLES, to point out the

right METHOD OF REASONING, and to mark that juft ASSENT, all correfponding with each other, which appertain to the dif→ ferent KINDS of TRUTH, as they feverally relate to the Intellect, the Will, and the Imagination; and this for the express and fpecial purpofe of afcertaining the proper Nature, the particular Method, and the peculiar Genius, of THEOLOGIC TRUTH: which Degn, if I may be able to execute it up to the idea which my hope, perhaps only my prefumption, may have encouraged me to form, promises to lay the deepest as well as the broadeft bottom on which "Ta GROUND AND ESTABLISH THE CHRISTIAN FAITH."

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This part, if fuccessfully executed, will be preparatory to my fecond object, which will be-To fhew how all the other Kinds of Truth minifter and fubferve, in their proper Ufe, both to the Introduction and Support of THEOLOGICAL: which will contribute to the further CONFIRMATION and Illuftration of that FAITH.

• See the Extract from the Will of Mr. Bampton prefixed to this volume.

And

And the second part will pave the way to my third object, which will be-To difcover, in the different modes of Abuse of the feveral Kinds of Truth, as they pass in review before us, many of the principal and most inveterate Caufes of HERETICAL and SCHISMATICAL ERRORS: which, by diving to their root and pointing out their origin, will prove the most logical and effectual method to eradicate and expofe them.

THE FIRST part, which is the groundplot of the two following, will take a logical 'Eftimate of the different Kinds of Knowledge, and chalk out a general C'H ART of their distinct and feparate Provinces, exhihiting a PARALLEL or comparative view of the different LOGIC appropriated to eacha Parallel of their PRINCIPLES--a Parallel of their REASONING and a Parallel of their TRUTHS.

Such a general Chart and Estimate, by distinguishing them from each other and by prefenting before the eye a full and comprehenfive prospect of their order and difpofi

See the fame Extract.

tion, their relations and connections, their bearings and dependencies, may prove friendly to the advancement of universal learning, may contribute to remove much of the difficulty of science, and may affift Reason in piloting its way with facility and success through every part of its literary voyage.

From GENERAL VIEWS the ftudent derives ftrength of mind, and clearness of comprehenfion. Like the enlightened traveller with a map of the roads and districts. in his hand, he can take the whole country before him at one view. He can mark clearly with his eye every confine, divifion and subdivifion of the whole, and can see distinctly every object and its fituation, within the extent of the horizon. Inftead of wandering about in a perpetual maze of error and confufion from narrow and contracted views, as if led by the glimmerings of a torch through the darkness of the night; he moves from place to place with ease and certainty in the enlargement of his mind, as under the direction of the fun at noon. • Were it not better,' fays the incomparable Bacon, for a man in a fair room to fet up one great • light

light, or branching candle-stick of lights, 'whereby all may be seen at once, than to

go up and down with a small watch candle

into every corner? For, when you carry 'the light into one corner, you darken all 'the reft.'

Delivered, by fuch an enlarged and comprehensive idea of things, from all attachments and averfions which are partial and confined, he is difpofeffed of Prejudice, which is always an inveterate, and often an invincible, enemy of Truth; which warps and misleads the judgment, and draws all the powers of the understanding within the confines of its own contracted prifon. And, befide the yoke of prejudice, he can shake off those embaraffing Difficulties which have their origin only in partial views; but which, however infignificant, puzzle and confound the reafoner For the Sciences, by their 'combined and confederated force,' according to the observation of the fame philosopher, ought to be the true and brief way of con'futation and fuppreffion of all the smaller 'fort of objections.' And he can rid him

De Augm. Sc. lib. i. p. 40.

Ibid.

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