ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. R. Craighead, Printer and Stereotyper, 112 Fulton st., N, Y. PREFACE. THE Science of Geology was, for a long time, confined to the learned and a few men of leisure, but it has, in the present century, spread widely through all ranks of society. It is heard in conversation, read in newspapers, magazines, and books. To the unlearned it is new and mysterious, and, having many technical terms, plain men are repelled from reading on the subject, on account of the difficulty of understanding the authors. Infidels have endeavored to prove from it, that the Mosaic history of creation is inconsistent with well established geological facts, and therefore boldly declare, and triumph in their unbelief. They labor to annoy and disturb Christians in their confidence in the Bible, and teach the young a lesson destructive of sound principles in morals and religion. The author of this Treatise had observed many of these facts, and witnessed much evil resulting from them, and felt the importance of a small plain work designed to show the consistency of the Bible with the present state of Geological Science. The book is not designed for a Geological Treatise, but to employ Geological facts in such a way as to confirm the Word of God, and to exhibit the great end of divine revelation. That the Bible does not give an account of the previous state of the earth is no objection to its truth, nor is it at all surprising that it is so. It contains the whole science of morals and religion, but refers to the works of creation as facts, illustrations, and proof. Thus, though God created the sun, and moon, and stars, he did not become a professor of Astronomy; and though he created the grass and the tree, he did not give us a book on botany. These things were left to the study, investigation, experiment, observation, and industry of man, to which his powers were fully equal, as well known facts clearly prove. Thus man had subjects on which to exercise his mind, and give it strength, in learning the wonders of the works of God. The book is written with a moral and religious object in view, and a humble hope of benefiting the cause of truth and godliness. This can be done only by supporting the word of |