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PREFACE. 



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mankind is man,^^ be literally and exclusively 

 admitted, natural science in j^eacral must yield 

 much of its claim to the estimation of the wisej 

 but if the noblest study of mankind be God^ then 

 may natural science firmly maintain its ground, 

 independent of the many ap|)lications to the neces- 

 sities, the comforts, and the elegancies of human 

 life, to which it is subservient. By it the book of 

 creation is laid open before us, and in it the indu- 

 bitable proofs of the Divine Author — in it " his 

 glorious attributes are written in large and legible 

 characters." As relates to botany, the endless 

 number of plants with which the Deity has covered 

 the earth, are, as Linnaeus has somewhere piously 

 observed, so many monuments of his wisdom and 

 his power— from effects we instinctively pass to 

 the cause- — from the creature to the Creator. It is 

 impossible to commune with nature, and be un- 

 mindful of God; and to conclude with the words 



if one train of thinking 



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of the excellent Paley, 

 be more desirable than another, it is that which 

 regards the phenomena of nature, with a constant 

 reference to a supreme, intelligent author. To 

 have made this the ruling, the habitual sentiment 

 of our mindSj is to have laid the foundation of 



* Natural Theolog-y. 



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