It may save the reader some trouble to be apprised, that the order in which the Principles are stated in the Second Part is not the order in which they are subsequently illustrated. The order in which they are illustrated in the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Parts, is PREFACE. THE present volume is intended to be the first of a short series of Treatises each complete in itself-in which the principles or laws hereafter deduced, and applied to the successive stages of the pre-Adamite earth, will be seen in their historical development as applied to individual man; to the family; to the nation; to the Son of God as "the second Adam, the Lord from heaven;" to the church which he has founded; to the revelation which he has completed; and to the future prospects of humanity. It would not be difficult to state the reasons which have induced me to adopt this particular method of exhibiting theological science; to specify the points in which it differs from those methods which may be considered most nearly to resemble it; and to enlarge on the advantages, direct and indirect, which it is proposed to secure by it. But, besides that such topics, if introduced at all, would require to be treated at considerable length, I would rather that the method adopted should, as it is gradually unfolded in the successive Treatises, be allowed to speak for itself. If any explanatory remarks respecting it are deemed necessary, they will, it appears to me, be more in place at the close of the Series than at the commencement. This first volume consists of five parts. Of these, the first part contains those Primary Truths which Divine Revelation |