SOPHICAL OPINIONS INVESTIGATED, FORMERLY CALLED POPULAR PREMISES EXAMINED. BY RICHARD DILLON, Esq. "Truth, like the sun, may be overshadowed by a cloud, but THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED. LONDON: R. HUNTER, 72, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 1834. 1250.f ADVERTISEMENT. THE Author of the following Essay, having long entertained the opinions expressed in it, ventures, by the advice of his friends, to throw it before the public, for the purpose of exciting inquiry and elicit ing TRUTH. He pretends not to infallibility, but he hopes that he has shown the absurdity of some popular opinions; and that he has also thrown a LIGHT upon REVELATION, from an examination of NATURE, which will reconcile the justice, mercy, and goodness of God with the existence of moral evil, be a barrier to scepticism, and give to Christians "a reason of the hope which is within them." He has endeavoured to compress his opinions, to select facts and arguments, and to avoid unnecessary detail. The Author has altered and added to the first and second Editions. He has shown more at large the absurdity of bigotry and superstition, the "sandy foundation" on which many popular opinions are constructed, and the necessity of reason upon Scripture and Nature. In short, the object of the Essay, is to show the absurdity of many popular opinions, and to make its eader s think for themselves. CONTENTS. The Scriptural meaning of Creation.-The formation of the Universe, from that which Scripture Origin of Moral Evil Page Expulsion of the Jesuits by Yont-Ching, ib. |