PREFACE.

IV. A discourse on the symbolic wisdom original: "hieroglyphic learning" of the ancients and the origin of the alphabet. Many Egyptian monuments are explained, especially those relating to their true understanding of the Holy Trinity original: "persons in the Deity". The timeline and rise of the alphabet is traced from a new perspective. The current square Hebrew characters are shown to be the original form of letters from which all others are derived. I explore where the idea for every letter was taken, alongside an explanation of all the ancient Hebrew coins that use the Samaritan script.

V. The history of the Patriarchs, particularly Abraham, is explored in detail, as is the migration original: "deduction" of a Phoenician colony to the Island of Britain during or shortly after his time. This explains the origin of the Druids, their religion, and their writing; they brought the original religion of the Patriarchs with them, along with knowledge of symbols and hieroglyphs similar to those of the ancient Egyptians. They held a concept and expectation of the Messiah, including the time of year he was to be born, his purpose, and his death.

VI. Regarding the Temples of the Druids in Britain: their religious rituals, social ranks, sacrifices, sacred groves, and tombs; their ancient racing tracks original: "cursus’s", places of sport and exercise, and so on. This includes a full and accurate description of their magnificent temple at Avebury original: "Abury" in North Wiltshire, the most majestic work on the face of the earth today. I include many prints of ground plans, views, and measurements of all its parts, as well as an account of their burial methods and my excavations of many burial mounds original: "barrows and tumuli" with accompanying drawings.

VII. Regarding the celebrated Stonehenge, another of their temples, including prints of that work; an account of the burial mounds I excavated and what was discovered in them; the knowledge the Druids had of the magnetic compass; and theories on the specific times these works were constructed, which was long before Caesar arrived in Britain.

I propose to publish these first two volumes first and proceed to the more theoretical parts later, reserving them—God willing— for a more mature time in my life.

My intention (besides preserving the memory of these extraordinary monuments for the honor of our country, as they are now in danger of being destroyed) is to promote, as much as I am able, the knowledge and practice of true and ancient Religion. I wish to revive in the minds of the learned the spirit of Christianity—which is nearly as old as the Creation itself, yet is now fading among us. I aim to restore the primary idea of the Deity, who has maintained the same consistent and "golden chain" of Religion from the beginning of time to this day. I hope to warm our hearts toward that true sense of Religion which maintains the middle ground: between ignorant superstition and "enlightened" atheism original: "learned free-thinking"; between messy fanaticism and the theatrical rituals of the Roman Catholic Church original: "popish pageantry"; and between irrational religious mania original: "enthusiasm" and the rational worship of God. In my judgment, this balance is achieved nowhere on earth better than in the Church of England.

Since a spirit of Skepticism has lately become so fashionable and bold as to attack the fundamentals of all divine revelation, I have endeavored to trace it back to the fountain of Divinity from which it flows. I aim to show that Religion is a single system as old as the world, and that this system is the Christian Religion. God did not leave the rational part of his creation like a colony of ants with no guide other than instinct; rather, he revealed his truths in proportion to the world's age, learning, wisdom, and experience—just as a wise parent does for his children. I shall also show that our predecessors, the Druids of Britain, though left in the furthest West to develop their own thoughts, advanced their inquiries to such heights (despite all disadvantages) that it should make modern thinkers ashamed to ignore the light of learning and religion. We may reasonably conclude there was something very extraordinary in those principles which prompted them to such a noble spirit—a spirit that produced these works still visible among us,