A TREATISE, &c. VOL. I. ON THE RECORDS OF THE CREATION. Mundum esse conspicimus, Deum esse credimus; quod autem Deus mun- August. de Civ. Dei. PREFACE. SEVERAL EVERAL years ago, Mr. Burnett, a Scottish gentleman, among other instances of distinguished munificence, which have rendered it impracticable to comply with his own earnest wish of keeping his name concealed *, bequeathed premiums of the sums of twelve hundred and four hundred pounds, for two Treatises upon the following subject: "The Evidence that there is a Being all-powerful, wise, and good, by whom every Thing exists; and particularly to obviate Difficulties regarding the * A more detailed memoir of this gentleman has been prepared by Dr. Brown, Professor of Divinity, and Principal of Marischal College in Aberdeen; and is prefixed to his Treatise on the same subject, to which the premium of twelve hundred pounds was adjudged. Wisdom and the Goodness of the Deity; and this, in the first place, from Considerations independent of written Revelation; and in the second place, from the Revelation of the Lord Jesus and from the whole, to point out the Inferences most necessary for, and useful to Mankind." The Ministers of the established Church, and the Principals and Professors of King's and Marischal colleges of Aberdeen, and the Trustees of the Testator, were appointed to nominate three Judges who should decide upon the comparative merits of the Treatises that might be laid before them, with sealed mottos, by the 1st of January 1814. In this liberality the following Treatise originated, to which the premium of £400 was awarded by the judges chosen according to the instructions of the Testator; namely, the late Professor Gerard, whose death the university has since had to lament, and Professors Hamilton and Glennie, of Aberdeen. |