PREFACE. Xiii 



from an undertaking, of which the profit, if by 

 great chance there should be any, could not be 

 expected to repay even the cost of books required 

 in it, and from which any fame must necessarily 

 be confined to a very limited circle. But having 

 entered upon it, they have persevered ; and if 

 they succeed in their grand aim, that of making 

 converts amongst their countrymen to a study 

 equally calculated for promoting the glory of 

 God and the delight and profit of man, they will 

 not deem the labour of the leisure hours of six 

 years ill bestowed. 



And here it may be proper to observe, that one 

 of their first and favourite objects has been to di- 

 rect the attention of their readers " from nature 

 up to nature's God." For, when they reflected 

 upon the fatal use which has too often been made 

 of Natural History, and that from the very works 

 and wonders of God, some philosophists, by an 

 unaccountable perversion of intellect, have at- 

 tempted to derive arguments either against his 

 being and providence, or against the Religion 

 revealed in the Holy Scriptures, they conceived 

 they might render some service to the most im- 

 portant interests of mankind, by showing how 

 every department of the science they recommend 

 illustrates the great truths of Religion, and proves 

 that the doctrines of the Word of God, instead of 



