$ PREFACE* 



of nature* declare themselves to l>e 

 ports of a great and harmonious 

 whole, connected by general laws, and 

 tending fo one general and beneficent 

 J);trp-jse> and cannot fail of impres- 

 sing him with a wish to co-operate in 

 tins glorious plan, by acting worthy 

 of the place he holds among the works 



&GO& 



Tn as is the study of nature calcu- 

 lated to eral 1 the mind, and reduce 

 the sinn of human pride and igno- 

 ? ' - , and ccmes in aid of that self- 

 abasement which the great duties of 

 Christianity impose, hy teaching man 

 that, though he stands a pinnacle of 

 power, and grasps in intellect all the 

 prodigious works of 'creation, he is but 

 a link in an immeasurable chain that 

 serve* to suspend and give motion to 

 the zoorks of Him who 



Connects each being, greatest with the least, 

 Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast. 



Nor is it as a moral agent only 



