n faculties. They amount to a denial, not merely of its truth,
but of its very possibility. They place it among the dreams of the
past--with the fables of the Genii, or the follies of Alchemy, or the
phantoms of Astrology. They intimate, in no ambiguous terms, not only
that Catholicism is effete, and Christianity itself dead or dying, but
that Theology of every kind, even the simplest and purest form of
Theism, must speedily vanish from the earth. Admitting that the
religious element was necessarily developed in the infancy of the
species, and that its influence was alike inevitable and salutary during
the world's minority, when it was placed provisionally "under tutors and
governors," they proclaim that mankind have outgrown the vestments which
suited them in earlier times, and that now they must "put away childish
things." That such sentiments have been publicly avowed, that they have
been proclaimed as the scientific results of speculative thought, and
that they have been widely circulated in the vehicles both of
philosophic discussion and of popular literature, will be proved by
evidence, equally sad and conclusive, in the succeeding chapters; in the
meantime we refer to them merely for the purpose of showing that, in so
far as their influence prevails, they must necessarily tend, unless
they be counteracted by some effective antidote, to generate such a
prejudice against the whole scheme of Theology, whether Natural or
Revealed, as may be expected, especially in the case of young,
inexperienced, and ardent minds, to prevent them from entertaining the
subject at all, or examining, with serious and candid interest, any kind
or amount of evidence that might be adduced in regard to it. For this
reason, we propose to review the various Theories or Systems which may
be said to embody and exhibit these prevailing tendencies, to meet our
opponents on their own chosen ground, and to subject their favorite
speculations to a rigorous and sifting scrutiny; and this, not for the
purpose of proving our fundamental position, for that must rest on its
proper and independent evidence, but simply with the view of
neutralizing the adverse presumptions which prevent many from
considering its claims, and proving that it is a subject that demands
and deserves their serious and sustained attention.

Taking a comprehensive view of European Science and Literature during
the last half century, we may discern the great currents, or chief
ten