HARRY BEAUFOY: OR THE PUPIL OF NATURE. BY MARIA HACK. Thus then to man the voice of Nature spake :- PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THOMAS KITE, NO. 64 WALNUT STREET. ::::::: 66 May not the eagerness of infantine curiosity be directed to a First Cause, powerful, wise, and good, and through the works of Nature, be made to lead to Nature's God? As the understanding opens to moral truth, the moral attributes of the Deity will occasionally be suggested, and will be the more readily admitted, and the more deeply reverenced, from the previous agreeable associations of goodness and power. The truths of natural religion will then pave the way for the truths of revelation. Mrs. Hamitton's Letters on Education, vol. i. p. 140. PREFACE. 1959-3 THOUGH I have purposely avoided placing the formidable words "NATURAL THEOLOGY," in the title-page, yet parents will perceive at a glance, that the admirable work of Dr. Paley has been used as the basis of this little volume. In some places the language of that work is too technical; and in others, the reasoning is either above the comprehension of children, or illustrated by examples unsuitable for them: yet it abounds in passages peculiarly adapted for young people, as soon as their minds become susceptible of religious knowledge. The delighted attention with which I have seen children, from seven to ten years old, listen to such passages, first induced me to bestow some time in selecting a few of the most striking, and arranging them so as to form a chain of argument adapted to the powers of reasoning at that age. In doing this, it has sometimes been necessary to illustrate the arguments of Paley, by examples more familiar to the minds of children than those which he has chosen. This was an undertaking |