10 



INTRODUCTION. 



of unassisted reason, in the most interesting and 

 important of all investigations. They have 

 wandered in the mazes of error and delusion , 

 and their researches, instead of directing and 

 expanding our religious views, have tended only 

 to bewilder the h^man mind, and to throw a 

 deeper shade of intellectual gloom over our 

 apostate world. After a period of six thousand 

 years has been spent in anxious inquiries after 

 the path to true knowledge and happiness Igno 

 rance, Superstition, Idolatry, Vice, and Misery 

 still continue to sway their sceptre over the great 

 majority of the human race ; and, if we be allow 

 ed to reason from the past to the future, we may 

 rest assured, that while mankind are destitute 

 of a Guide superior to the glimmerings of deprav 

 ed reason, they would be no nearer the object of 

 their pursuit, after the lapse of sixty thousand 

 years, than at the present moment. It is only 

 in connection with the discoveries of Revelation, 

 that we can expect that the efforts of human 

 reason and activity will be successful in abolishing 

 the reign of Ignorance and degrading Supersti 

 tion in illuminating the benighted tribes of the 

 Pagan World and in causing&quot; Righteousness, 

 and Order, and Peace, to spring forth before all 

 the nations.&quot; Though the Christian Religion 

 has never yet been fully understood and recognis 

 ed in all its aspects and bearings, nor its require 

 ments been cordially complied with, by the great 

 body of those who profess to believe in its Divine 

 origin, yet it is only in those nations who have 

 acknowledged its authority, and in some mea 

 sure submitted to its dictates, that any thing 

 approximating to just conceptions of the Supreme 

 Intelligence, and of his moral government, is 

 found to prevail. 



But, on the other hand, though the light of 

 Nature is of itself a feeble and insufficient guide, 

 to direct us in our views of the Supreme Intel 

 ligence, and of our eternal destination, yet it is 

 a most dangerous and delusive error to imagine, 

 that Reason, and the study of the material world, 

 ought to be discarded from the science of religion. 

 The man who would discard the efforts of the 

 human intellect and the science of Nature from 

 Religion, forgets that He who is the Author of 

 human redemption, is also the Creator and Go 

 vernor of the whole system of the material uni 

 verse that it is one end of that moral renovation 

 which the Gospel effects, to qualify us for con 

 templating aright thedisplays of Divine Perfec 

 tion which the works of creation exhibit that 

 the visible works of God are the principal medium 

 by which he displays the attributes of his nature 

 to intelligent beings that the study and con- 

 temnlation of these works employ the faculties of 

 intelligences of a superior order* that man, had 

 he remained in primeval innocence, would have 

 been chiefly employed in such contemplations 



* Rev. iv. 11 TV 3, &c. 



that it is one main design of Divi/ie Revelation 

 to illustrate the operations of Providence, and the 

 agency of God in the formation and preserva 

 tion of all things and that the Sciiptures are full 

 of sublime descriptions of the visible creation, and 

 of interesting references to he various objects 

 which adorn the scenery of Nature. Without 

 the cultivation of our reasoning powers, and an 

 investigation of the laws and economy of Nature, 

 we could not appreciate many of the excellent 

 characters, the interesting aspects, and the 

 sublime references of revealed religion : we 

 should lose the full evidence of those arguments 

 by which the existence of God and his attributes 

 of Wisdom and Omnipotence are mot power 

 fully demonstrated : we should remain destitute 

 of those sublime conceptions of the perfections 

 and agency of Jehovah which the grandeur and 

 immensity of his works are calculated to inspire . 

 we should never perceive, in its full force, the 

 evidence of those proofs on which the Divine 

 authority of Revelation is founded : we could not 

 give a rational interpretation of the spirit and 

 meaning of many parts of the Sacred Oracles : 

 nor could we comply with fO ze positive com 

 mands of God which enjoin us to contemplate 

 the wonder of his power, to&quot; meditate on all his 

 works, and to talk of all his doings.&quot; 



Notwithstanding these and many other consi 

 derations, which show the folly of overlooking 

 the visible manifestations of Deity in the exer 

 cises of Religion, it has long been the practice 

 of certain theologians to depreciate the wonderful 

 works of Jehovah, and to attempt to throw them 

 into the shade, as if they were unworthy of our 

 serious contemplation. In their view, to be a 

 bad philosopher is the surest way to become a 

 good Christian, and to expand the views of the 

 human mind, is to endanger Christianity, and to 

 render the design of religion abortive. They 

 seem to consider it as a most noble triumph to the 

 Christian cause, to degrade the material world, 

 and to trample under foot, not only the earth, but 

 the visible heavens, as an old, shattered, and cor 

 rupted fabric, which no longer demands our study 

 or admiration. Their expressions, in a variety 

 of instances, would lead us almost to conclude, 

 that they considered the economy of Nature as set 

 in opposition to the economy of Redemption, 

 and that it is not the same God that contrived 

 the system of Nature, who is also ihe &quot;Author 

 of eternal salvation to all them that obey him. 



It is, unquestionably, both foolish and impious 

 to overlook or tc undervalue any of the modes 

 by which the Divine Being has been pleased 

 to make known his nature and perfections to 

 mankind. Since he has given a display of his 

 &quot; Eternal Power and Godhead&quot; in the grand 

 theatre of nature, which forms the subject of 

 scientific investigation, it was surely never in 

 tended, and would ill comport with revetence for 

 its adorable Author, that such magnificent dis- 



