TWO great Volumes have been laid before mankind for his instruction, and from which his ideas and science all have been derived...the material Works, and the inspired Word of God. These being the productions of the same wise and unchangeable Author, the harmony subsisting between them is universal and complete.

Both have for their end the manifestation of the invisible Deity. While in the Bible we have a verbal revelation of the wisdom and power and goodness of God, in material Nature we have a pictorial revelation of the same, "the invisible things of Him being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead."

Though both these revelations date from a period far back in the past, yet each retains, after the lapse of all the ages, its original interest and freshness undiminished. The Bible, though the oldest of books, is confessedly ever new and delightful to those who have been taught to enter into its spirit.

The expanded pages of Creation, likewise, present us with a study that is as marvelous and attractive now as it was six thousand years ago. We of to-day discover as much to admire in the "great deep," in "the precious things of the everlasting hills," in the overspreading vegetation, and in the living tenants of the earth, as did Adam when he walked forth to survey the beauties of Eden while arrayed in the glitter of its earliest dews. Neither the wealth of meaning, nor the depth of interest, treasured up in these divine volumes, will ever be exhausted.

In the following course the study of these two books is combined; and the main design of the Writer, while all along indicating their harmony, is to illustrate the inspired Record of Creation by the marvelous developments of modern science in the various departments of Nature...to bring before the Reader, from among the abounding materials of each Day's work, such objects and scenes and agencies as present striking displays of the omnipotence, wisdom and beneficence of the Creator, and convincing evidences of his universal presence and unremitting agency.

Such a presentation of the phenomena of nature in elucidation of the sacred Word, it is believed, will be found by every reflecting person, not only deeply interesting as a study, but also in the highest degree calculated to expand the views, enlighten the judgment, and improve the heart.

In thus devoutly studying the Word of God in connection with his wonderful works, we discover the conceptions and plans, the reasonings and purposes, of God; and, to the extent of our capacity, His mind becomes our mind, and His science our science. The more we investigate what He hath done, the more shall we know of Him, and the more we shall admire what we know, and love what we admire.