ILLUSTRATED BY DISCOVERIES AND EXPERIMENTS DERIVED FROM THE PRESENT ENLIGHTENED STATE OF SCIENCE; WITH REFLECTIONS, INTENDED TO PROMOTE VITAL AND PRACTICAL RELIGION. BY THOMAS WOOD, A. M. REVISED AND IMPROVED BY THE REV. J. P. DURBIN, A. M. Professor of Languages, Augusta College, Kentucky. “Every man has a particular train of thought into which his mind falls, when at leisure, from the impressions and ideas which occasionally excite it; and if one train of thinking be more desirable than anothe

As God made man with a capacity susceptible of knowledge, so has he furnished him with the means of acquiring it. The Divine Being is incomprehensible to all but himself: for a finite capacity can never fully grasp an infinite object. Neither can he be perceived at all, only so far as he is pleased to reveal himself. He has given us a revelation of his nature, perfections, and will; which could never have been discovered by reasoning and conjecture. He has also favored us with a revelation of hi

This work, which is now presented to the public, has not been reprinted in America heretofore, notwithstanding it passed through two editions in England, with honorable approbation, in a short space of time. This first American edition, it is confidently believed, will be received with approbation; because the work will be found, on perusal, to answer to its title; and surely no subject can interest the Christian and intelligent reader more deeply, than the illustration of the creation of the wo

Distinguished by his name Jehovah — His essence and self-existence expressed by the words I am — His attribute of goodness the glory of all his other perfections — Elohim signifying a Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Essence — The Creation ascribed to one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — The first production of matter — The creatures made for the manifesting of God’s attributes, and that he might impart happiness to them. As it is proposed, in the following pages to give the Mosai

Inquiry into the origin of things natural to man — Character of Moses as a sacred historian important — Explanation of the term Created — Chaotic state of the elementary principles of matter — Influence of the Spirit of God upon the chaotic mass — Opinions of the ancients — Similitude between the first and second creation — Agency of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration asserted and proved. As creatures possessed of conscious existence, and furnished with both intellectual and moral power

Omnific word — Moving principles in Nature — Criticism on the original word אור aur — Creation of fire — Its nature — Friction exciting the action of fire — Fire attracted by bodies — Fire conducted — Fire in a state of combination — Fire elastic — Expansive force of fire — Subterraneous fires — Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions — Air a storehouse of fire — General and final Dissolution of Nature by fire — Fire a symbol of the Deity, in his gracious presence, vital influence, transforming energ

Motion of luminous and fiery particles the first cause of light — Light the most simple body — Velocity of light — Light diffusive — Light the medium through which objects become visible — Light beautiful, or its rays of different colors — Light a visible resemblance of its Divine Author, in his spirituality, simplicity, purity, energy, goodness, manifestation, glory. Moses, in the original word אור aur , seems plainly to hint at the operation of a principle in the universe which, as a second ca

Original terms of Day and Night — Motion the effect of a Divine power — Commencement of Time — Utility of Day and Night — Religious improvement of Time — Sin moral darkness — The Gospel a Light to dispel it — A Christian the subject of a transition from the one state to the other. The separation of light from the darkness , was the work of the first day . This was an arrangement made by infinite Wisdom, as well as a display of almighty power. When this took place, it is highly probable that God

Composition of Atmospheric Air — Atmosphere divided into three regions — Air a fluid — Its compressibility and elasticity — Weight and pressure — Equilibrium — Transparency — Wind — Causes of Wind — Variety of Winds — Velocity of Winds — Destructive Winds — Wind under the control of God — Wind a similitude of the Holy Spirit’s operations. On the second day God made a space or expansion , surrounding the solid earth to a certain height, called the atmosphere . This word is derived from ἀτμός and

Water and land separated — Formation of the sea — Its restrictions — Extent — Depth — Composition — Saltness — Motion — Tides — Four states of water — Circulation — Religious improvement. On the third day , the earth was drained, and the waters, which before covered its surface, were gathered into copious receptacles, and called seas. God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathe

Surface of the Earth — Mountains — Fertility of Plants — Dissemination of Seeds — Preservation of Plants — Adaptation to different Climates — Number of vegetables — Succession of vegetables — Remarkable Trees — Sensitive Plants — Kitchen vegetables — Garden flowers — Religious Improvement. The dry land and the seas constitute what is called the terraqueous globe ; what proportion the superficies of the sea bears to that of the land, cannot be easily ascertained; but, as one observes, the earth a

Gold — Silver — Platina — Mercury — Copper — Iron — Tin — Lead — Nickel — Zinc — Palladium — Bismuth — Antimony — Tellurium — Arsenic — Cobalt — Manganese — Tungsten — Molybdenum — Uranium — Titanium — Chromium — Columbium or Tantalium — Cerium — Oxmium — Rodium — Iridium — Religious Improvement. Some parts of the earth’s surface are barren and unfruitful, yielding no pleasant herb for cattle, nor vegetable for the service of man. But the bowels of the earth in such places are commonly stored wi

Signs — Names — Nature — Motions — Form — Magnitude — Distance — Suspension — Idolatrous worship of the Sun — The Sun an Emblem of Christ. On the fourth day , “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the

Names — Dimensions — Motions — Seasons — Phases — Harvest Moon — Moon’s Surface — Aërial Stones — Eclipses — Moonlight — Epithets — Religious Improvement. The moon is called a great light , but less than the sun. Moses does not here speak philosophically, according to her bulk, but to the proportion of light she affords us, which is more than all the planets in the solar system and all the fixed stars put together. “He smooth’d the rough-cast moon’s imperfect mould, And comb’d her beamy locks wi

Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — Displaying Divine Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Faithfulness — Religious Improvement. The Divine Architect appointed the sun and moon the places of their rising, the circuits they were to run, and where they were to go down: he marked out the line in which they were to move through all the different climates of the earth. They instantly obeyed his all-powerful word, and have ever since acted faithfully to his command. In their operations, they measure out our

Mercury — Venus — The Earth — Mars — Ceres — Pallas — Juno — Vesta — Jupiter — Saturn — Georgium Sidus — Comets — Fixed Stars — Religious Improvement. Moses, after stating that God created the sun and the moon, says, “he made the stars also.” A learned author explains it, “he made the lesser light, with the stars, to rule the night.” It is very probable that the whole solar system was created in six days: but as the design of the sacred historian was to relate what especially belongs to our glob

Of Fishes in general — The Cetaceous kind — Cartilaginous — Spinous — Crustaceous — and Testaceous. — Animalcules. — Religious Improvement. On the fifth day were created fishes, and the fowls of heaven, whatsoever flies in the expansion above us, or swims in the watery element: these were produced from the waters. “God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales

Number of Species — Superiority and peculiar Construction — Skill in building their Nests — Power and season of Propagation — Dexterity in providing Food — Instinct — Migrations — Insects — Religious Improvement. Not any part of nature is destitute of inhabitants. The woods, the waters, the depths of the earth, have their respective tenants; while the transparent and elastic air, and those regions where man can never soar, but with much art and at considerable risk, are occupied with the most be

Quadrupeds in general — Motion — Habits — Rumination — Proportion — Tastes — Clothing — Weapons — Proportionate Number — Faculties — Reptiles — Religious Improvement. On the sixth day all terrestrial animals were formed. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the

Body : — Its Creator — Formation — Vitality — Blood — Heart — Arteries and Veins — Digestion — Respiration — Glands — Absorbents — Nervous System — Organs of Sense — Bones — Sinovia — Muscles — Tendons — Cellular Membrane — Skin. Soul : — Its Immateriality — Freedom — Immortality — Moral Image — Adam’s Dominion over the Creatures — Woman — Paradise. All things necessary, convenient, and delightful, being prepared for the accommodation of Man: light, that he might see; air, that he might hear and

Sabbath Instituted — Blessed and Sanctified — Given to Adam as a General Precept for his Posterity — Renewed before and at the giving of the Law — A Sign between God and his People — Worldly Business prohibited — Works of Necessity and Mercy excepted — Advantages resulting from observing it — A Seventh Day regarded by the Heathens — The Sabbath of universal and perpetual obligation — The Lord’s Day. When God had made the world, and furnished it with a variety of creatures, suited to the differen