Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Thomas Rawson Birks was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and a senior professor of philosophy. This book was first published in 1872, the year of his appointment to the prestigious Knightbridge Professorship. As an active Anglican clergyman, Birks engaged energetically in many heated theological controversies. In the Victorian debates on the relationship between religion and science he took a strongly anti-Darwinian stance, declaring that the theory of evolution contradicted the doctrine of creation and could not explain the mystery of life. In other areas, however, he argued that the findings of science confirmed the glory of God, since 'the telescope reveals the grandeur and vastness of the starry worlds' and 'the microscope discovers marks of design and beauty' which are evidence of a supreme designer. His influential evangelical views are expressed in this book, which argues for scripture as the ultimate key to the mystery of existence.