AND THE SEA;

OR,

The Hand of God in the Works of Nature.

BY

THE REV. JOHN M. WILSON,

AUTHOR OF "HOW WE LIVE," ETC.

"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered."-Ps. cxi. 2, 4.

LONDON:

T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;

EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.

MDCCCLX.

PREFACE.

FEW subjects are calculated to awaken in the mind of the Christian a juster source of pleasure, than the increasing relations between the disclosures of Nature and of Revelation. The time appears to have utterly passed away in which the devout believer could see, in the investigations of the laws of Nature, any ground for apprehension that the basis of faith in the economy of Providence might thereby be weakened. Natural philosophy, geology, chemistry, astronomy, and all the varied subdivisions of science, are found the ready handmaids of the great Book of Revelation, from whence we learn the purposes of God to man; and it is the glory of modern science that it restores the Book of Nature to the same Divine Author, and traces out his overruling presence alike in the works of creation and providence.

The following pages are designed to present, in a pleasing and attractive form, those most striking phenomena which, in every department of creation,

impress the thoughtful mind with a sense of the omnipotence of the great Architect of the universe, and of the divine wisdom and love which are manifest through all His works. It embraces a popular view of many of the most interesting phases of Nature: the phenomena of the seasons-the laws and properties of light, heat, electricity, and other constant sources of change and the economy of life in plants and animals. It is thus peculiarly adapted for leading the mind to reflection, and awakening in it a desire for further knowledge, and a sense of the delight which springs from the study of the Creator in his works. Readers of every age will, it is hoped, find in its pages views both of nature and providence calculated to enlighten the understanding and enlarge the heart.

EDINBURGH, April 26, 1853.

[NOTE.-The work has now been revised, and some improvements have been made in it, and an INDEX added.]

EDINBURGH, February 1, 1859.