Transcriber's Note The author's classification of footnotes has been preserved, but footnotes have been located at the end of chapters THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL THEOLOGY. AN ESSAY, IN CONFUTATION OF THE SCEPTICISM OF THE PRESENT DAY, WHICH OBTAINED A PRIZE AT OXFORD, NOV. 26TH, 1872. BY THE REVEREND WILLIAM JACKSON, M.A., F.S.A., FORMERLY FELLOW OF WORCESTER COLLEGE, AUTHOR OF "POSITIVISM," "RIGHT AND WRONG," "THE GOLDEN SPELL," ETC. NEW YORK: A. D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., BROADWAY. MDCCCLXXV. TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, &c., &c., &c., THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, WITH HIS LORDSHIP'S PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THEIR AUTHOR. _From the "Oxford University Gazette" of June 14th, 1870._ PRIZE ESSAY. Circumstances have induced an Individual, who wishes to remain unknown, to offer a Prize of £100, to be competed for by Members of the University of Oxford of not less standing than Master of Arts, and by any above that standing, for the best Essay in confutation of the Materialism of the present day by arguments derived from Evidences of Intelligence, Design, Contrivance, and Adaptation of Means to Ends, in the Universe, and especially in Man considered in his Moral Nature, his Religious Aptitudes, and his Intellectual Powers; and in all Organic Nature. The observation also to be made and supported in the course of the Essay that the Will and Wisdom of the Creator may be a sufficient cause for deviations from the established course of nature, and that the Free-will of man, in things within his power and influence, may be a cause of similar deviations. It is desired that all arguments used against Materialism should be independent of those of Hegel, and of what is called the Spiritual Philosophy, which had its rise in Germany. A period of two years will be allowed after the Public Announcement of the subject before the competing Essays will be required to be sent in to the Judges: and it is a condition of the competition that the Copyright of the successful Essay shall be the property of the Donor of the Prize; but that if published, the profits (if any) shall belong to the Writer. The Very Reverend the Dean of St. Paul's, the Regius Professor of Divinity, and the Rev. C. Pritchard, Savilian Professor of Astronomy, have consented to act as Judges. Essays must be sent to the Registrar of the University on or before the 12th of June, 1872. The Essays are to be distinguished by mottoes, the writer's name being sent at the same time in a sealed envelope, in the manner prescribed for the Chancellor's Prizes. F. K. LEIGHTON, Vice-Chancellor. ALL SOULS COLLEGE, _June 13, 1870_. After the decease of Dean Mansel the last clause but one of the above notice was thus modified in the _Gazette_ for Dec. 5th, 1871:--