PREFACE. 



THE following pages have been written chiefly with 

 a view to exhibit the bearings of modern Microscopic 

 research on the elucidation of the minute works of 

 the Creator, and the illustration thereby given of the 

 Divine perfections. 



It is well known that, in the present century, the 

 advocates of infidelity have passed from the depart- 

 ment of Metaphysics to that of Physics, in order to 

 maintain their cause not a little damaged on the 

 former field of conflict against Natural and Kevealed 

 Religion. In many cases, with a professed reverence 

 for the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, as 

 displayed in the Volume of Nature, there has been a 

 subtle opposition to His manifestations in the Book 

 of Inspiration ; but between the Work and the Word 

 of the Author and Lord of all, there can be no oppo- 

 sition. Humble inquirers, therefore, after truth, alike 

 on the field of nature and of revelation, may antici- 

 pate, as the sure though perhaps slow result of such 

 controversies, a more enlarged comprehension of the 

 works of God in connexion with a clearer under- 

 standing of His 'Holy Scriptures. Already this issue 

 has been seen. Do not the strange discoveries re- 

 cently made at Nineveh and Babylon strikingly illus- 



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L.4 



