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Singularities in the Mineral Kingdom.

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cold. In a heat of 600° it boils, and may be totally evaporated; exposed to the air and agitated, it at tracts a portion of oxygen, and is converted into a powder called oxide, which is black, yellow, and red, according as the oxygen is in greater or less propor. tion. By the application of heat the oxygen may be extricated from the oxide, and the mercury again as sume its original form.

Gold is the most precious and valuable of all metals, not only by its scarcity, but from its admirable. properties. No other substance equals it in ductility and maleability. It may be beaten out into leaves so thin that one single grain of solid gold may be made to cover 564 square inches, the leaf being only 282005 part of an inch thick; and an ounce of gold upon a silver wire is capable of being extended 1300 miles in length. It requires a very strong heat to melt it.

The curious crystals of salt; the peculiar brilliancy of some stones; the great variety of metals; petrified bodies found sometimes in the highest mountains; and a thousand more wonders contained in the mineral kingdom, are well calculated to awaken our curiosity and to excite our astonishment. No pursuit is more gratifying and delightful, or more diversified, than the attentive contemplation of nature. Though we were to live for ages upon the earth, and employed every day and every hour in studying and investigat ing the phenomena and peculiarities of the mineral kingdom only, there would still remain a thousand things which we could not explain, but which, com cealed from our penetration, would still more and more excite our curiosity. Let us then lose no time in entering such a wide field of discovery; let us em. ploy a part of the time we can spare from our indispensable duties and avocations in observing nature, by which our mind will become improved, our know. ledge increased, and we shall be rewarded with a very

innocent and durable pleasure. The more we media tate upon the designs of God in his works, the more will our satisfaction increase, inasmuch as the objects of nature are infinitely more sublime and wonderful than the choicest productions of human genius.

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God's Love for Man daily manifested.

To enumerate all the blessings which the mercy of God has bestowed upon us from the first moment of our existence to the present period, would be as impossible as to stand upon an eminence and count the stars of heaven. How many benefits have we received in our infancy, which are now entirely forgotten ? From how many dangers, open or concealed, have we been delivered! From how many impending evils have we escaped; and how often has God provided for our wants, and confounded the incredulity of those who regarded assistance as hopeless! Each day of our lives adds to the sum of the favours we have received. Each time that the sun illumines the eastern horizon, and that his departing beams leave a radiance of glory in the west, the goodness of God is manifested. And what greater and more striking proofs can we have of his Divine Love, than our being redeemed through the sufferings of Jesus Christ! that we have the holy scriptures of truth to point out those certain rules, which lead to life and to happiness! and that from our earliest 'infancy we are permitted to imbibe the pure principles of Christianity, safe from the machi nations of bigotry and the terrors of persecution !

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From these considerations, it will appear to be wholly impossible to number the blessings we receive from God. Let us confiné ourselves to a single day,

Tranquillity of the Night.

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and endeavour to compute the mercies we receive in that short space: light, air, food, strength, a habita tion, and friends, amusements and pleasures, and the renewed powers and activity of the mind, with a thousand others each individual may enumerate.* May our minds be impressed, and our hearts softened, by these daily instances of God's love; and by fre quently meditating upon them, may our gratitude be elicited, and our virtue strengthened and improved! The more we employ ourselves in such reflections, the more we shall be disposed to reverence the power of the Almighty, and be delighted in celebrating his praise.

FEBRUARY XXVI.

Tranquillity of the Night.

THE care of Providence to secure our repose during the absence of day claims the utmost gratitude and admiration. When night spreads her sable mantle over the earth, an universal stillness reigns, and announces to all creatures a cessation from their toits, and invites them to soft repose. To aid this general calm, nature suspends the action of those things which, by their vivid impression, would interrupt its duration. Ani mals, whose restless activity might disturb our sleep, have themselves need of repose; the birds retire to their nests, and the domestic animals sleep around us.

But this dead calm is not alike agreeable to all; for many who, from pain, sickness, and various causes,

* The author calculates that we receive from God 12 blessings every minute relative to respiration; 30 relative to our understanding and will; and 6000 relative to the different parts of our bodies: consequently God grants us, each minute, 6942 blessings, and 362,520 every hour of life.".

pass their nights in dreary watchfulness, oppressed with care, no sooner lie down, than, preyed upon by distracting thoughts, their sufferings and their troubles seem to augment in proportion as every thing is tranquil around them: they count the hours as they slowly pass, and the time drags heavily till the first streaks of morning break, and the cheering rays of the sun restore to them the presence of pleasurable objects, and the intercourse of their friends. The number of these victims of disease and mental distraction are few compared with the great mass of mankind, whom health of body, ensured by temperance, and peace of soul, obtained by good works, always procure sweet and uninterrupted slumbers. After the fatigues of the day, we hail the approach of evening with pleasure; and as the gloom thickens, and spreads a deeper shade, we feel the influence of sleep gradually diffused over our frame, and, stretched along at case on the downy couch, soon confess its grateful power. But how often does man break in upon the midnight hour, and disturb the general calm of nature! The tumultuous uproar of the drunkard, and the wild levity of the libertine, often trouble the re. pose of the peaceable, and interrupt their slumbers. Can these thoughtless beings ever reflect upon their general disturbance of the peace, or have any respect for the ordinances of God? At the very hour of their heedless noise, and riotous mirth, they are, perhaps, rendering more distracted the last moments of some poor helpless creature that imagines a short repose might ease its agony, or they break the slight repose of some unfortunate person who has long solicited it in vain. "How happy are the true believers, who have passed through the sleep of death to their God! They are released from all the miseries and vexations of a life passed in continual dangers and alarms, and their repose is no longer disturbed by numberless

Winter is an Emblem of Life.

107 pains and anxieties!, Freed from all misery, their souls no more shall be oppressed by grief, nor their joy be exchanged for sorrow and bitterness; but bles sed in the Lord, their peace shall be perfect."

FEBRUARY XXVII.

Winter is an Emblem of Life.

DURING the winter days we experience a continued Succession of vicissitudes; flakes of snow, showers of rain, clouds and sunshine, storms and calms, quickly follow each other. Scarcely has the snow enveloped nature in its pure veil, when it vanishes from our view; and scarcely does the sun reveal his splendour, when he becomes obscured by the dark clouds. So in the moral world we witness as frequent variations. If, during winter, many days are dark, gloomy, and dull, so also are many of the scenes of life; and as storms and darkness are necessary and conformable to the wise laws of nature, so also adversity will strengthen the mind, and render better the heart of

man.

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Who can prevent the day from being darkened by clouds, or our happiness from being the sport of cou tingencies, and at the mercy other men? It is as impossible for our souls to enjoy an uninterrupted calm, as for the face of the heavens to be continually smooth and serene; and as impossible for our frame to be free from pains and accidents, as for the air to remain always destitute of clouds. Passions which often produce good effects will, likewise, sometimes occasion the most fatal consequences, and may be justly compared to the storms and tempests which perturb the face of nature. And as the winter is a

Source of fertility to the earth, so the afflictions and

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