'Let, 6. Balancings of the Clouds? How fuch ponderous Bodies are made to hang with an even Poife, and hover like the lightest Down? These are the wondrous Works of HIM, who is perfect in Knowledge *. He bindeth up the Waters in his thick Clouds; and the Cloud, though nothing is more loose and fluctuating, becomes, by his Almighty Order, ftrong and tenacious as Cafks of Iron; it is not rent † under all the Weight.

When the Sluices are opened, and the Waters defcend, We might reasonably fufpect; that they would rufh down in Cataracts, more rapid and impetuous, than the Mountain Torrent. Thus would they be dreadfully pernicious. They would deftroy every Thing, where they happened to fall; and leave other Parts of the Ground, deftitute of neceflary Moisture.-Whereas, now, instead of fuch a disorderly and precipitate Effufion, they coalefce into Globules, and are difpenfed in gentle Showers. They are often attenuated into the Smallness of a Hair ; they fpread themfelves, as if they were firained through the Orifices of the finest Wateringpot; and form thofe fmall Drops of Rain, which the Clouds diftil upon Man abundantly . Thus, inftead of drowning the Earth, and sweeping away its Fruits, they cherish universal Nature; and, in Conformity to the Practice of their great MASTER, diftribute their humid Stores to Men, to

The Hebrew Words, which convey the Idea of gentle Rain, fignify a Portion of Water, made fmall as a Hair, or divided into Millions of Parts, '1' DU Deut. xxxii. 2.

Job xxxvi. 28.

Animals, and Vegetables, as they are able to bear them *.

Befides the Reservoirs of Water, here are cantoned various Parties of Winds, mild or fierce, gentle or boisterous. Furnished with breezy Wings, to fan the glowing Firmament, and diffuse Refreshment on a fainting World: or elfe, fitted to act as an univerfal Befom; and, by fweeping the Chambers of the Atmosphere, to preserve the fine aerial Fluid free from Feculencies. Without this wholefome Agency of the Winds, the Air would stagnate; would foon become putrid; and furround Us, in the literal Sense of the Words, with Darknefs that might be felt. London, Paris, and all the great Cities in the World, instead of being the Seats of Elegance, would degenerate into Sinks of Corruption,

Let the Inhabitants of Jamaica or Japan, let the Natives of Guinea or Peru, exprefs the Value of this elementary Gift. How could they fubfift, in those torrid Regions, without this best of Vifitants, the cool diurnal Breeze? Alas! how would their Blood boil; how would their Spirits fail; and their Strength be dried up like a Potfherd! Without this falutary Breeze, the Air would be liquid Fire; their Houses the Refidence of Fevers; and their Clime, as it were, the Ante-chamber to Hell.But the fresh and sprightly Gales constantly rise with the rifing Sun; and ply the Fan, without Intermiffion, around both Men and Beafts. qualifies and tempers the otherwife intolerable Heat; this sheds Comfort, and fupports Health; this is, amidft their burning Abodes, the very Balm of Life.

* Mark iv. 33.

+ Exod. x. 21.

This

Life. Not all the aromatic Odours, nor all the ambrofial Sweets of those fruitful Islands, are half fo agreeable to the Tafte or the Smell, as thefe Gales are recreating and grateful to the Lungs. And what Ah! what were all the Ivory and the Gold of those wealthy Continents? How dim their Luftre! How infignificant their Traffic! If feparated from this incomparably better Commerce with the ever-undulating Sky !-Yet there is one Species of Commerce, one Kind of facred Intercourse, preferable, infinitely preferable even to these sweet, fovereign, elementary Refreshments. The Church feems to pant and gafp after it, as a thirsty Land. Her Wants I feel, and her Wishes I adopt. Awake, O North-wind, and come thou South-wind; come, thou all-reviving, all-enlivening SPIRIT, and blow upon my Garden, or rather upon the poor, parched, barren Defart of my Soul; that the Spices, or fome Savour of Righteoufnefs and true Holiness, may flow out.

At Sea, the Winds fwell the Mariner's Sails, and fpeed his Course along the watery Way: speed it far more effectually, than a thousand Rowers, bending to their Strokes, and tugging at the Oar.-By Land, they perform the Office of an immenfe Seed-man, and scatter abroad the reproductive Principles of a Multitude of Plants; which, though the Staff of Life to many Animals, are too fmall for the Management, or too mean for the Attention of Man. GOD bringeth the Winds out of his Treafuries *, is a very juft and edifying Obfervation. Whether We confider it, as a Defcription of his abfolute and uncontroulable Dominion over this potent Metcor;

Pfal. cxxxv. 7.

Meteor; He bringeth; He maketh it to come; like fome tame fequacious Animal, which hearkens to a Word, or obeys the Nod. Or whether We contemplate the welcome and kindly Influence of the Meteor itself, on all the Face of Nature; He bringeth it, not from the Armoury, where the Weapons of Vengeance are depofited; but from his Treafuries, whence proceed the convenient, the beneficial, and the defirable.

Here are Lightnings ftationed. Though dormant at prefent, they are in act to fpring, and launch the livid Flame: whenever their piercing Flafh is neceffary. Neceffary to deftroy the fulphureous and peftilential Vapours; or to diflodge thofe floating Dregs, which might corrupt the Purity of the Ather, and obfcure its more than crystalline Tranfparency. This fierceft of Fires (fee the stupendous Operations of JEHOVAH!) is engendered by the coldeft of Elements. That blazing Bolt, which cleaves the Foreft Oaks with a Stroke; that penetrating Flame, which melts the Bars of Steel with a Touch; are the Offspring of Water, and iffue from the Womb of a Cloud. HE maketh Lightnings, faith the infpired Philofopher, not as an Efflux from the Sun; but (amazing Affociation!) as an Appendage or Concomitant for the Rain.

In the magnificent Arch of the Sky, is fituate a radiant Orb, which enlightens the Tracts, chears the Inhabitants, and colours all the Productions, of this habitable Globe. The Air, by a fingular Addrefs in managing the Rays, amplifies their Ufefulness:

Pfal. CXXXV. 7.

fulness: its reflecting Power * augments that Heat, which is the Life of Nature; its refracting Power prolongs that Splendor, which is the Beauty of the Creation.-Thefe Emanations of Light, though formed of inactive Matter, yet (astonishing Apparatus of eternal Wisdom!) are refined almoft to the Subtilty of Spirit, and are fcarce inferior even to Thought in Speed. By which Means, they spread themselves, with a Kind of inftantaneous Swiftness, through the Circumference of a whole Hemifphere; and though they fill, wherever they pervade, yet they ftraiten no Place, embarrass no One, incumber Nothing.

These give the Diamond its Brilliancy, and the Velvet its Glofs: to these the chearful Eye is obliged for its lively Sparkle, and the modest Cheek for its rofy Blush. These, attending the judicious Touches of the Pencil, bid the Drapery flow, and the embodied

The Air is a curious Cover, which, without oppreffing the Inhabitants of the Earth with any perceivable Weight, confines, reflects, and thereby increases the vivifying Heat of the Sun. The Air increases this kindly Heat, much in the fame Manner as our Garments by Day, or Bed-clothes by Night, give additional Warmth to our Bodies.-Whereas, when the aerial Vestment grows thin, or, to fpeak more philofophically, when the Air comes lefs in Quantity, and more attenuated in Quality, the folar Warmth is very fenfibly diminished. Travelers on the lofty Mountains of America, fometimes experience, to their terrible Coft, the Truth of this Obfervation. Though the Clime, at the Foot of thofe prodigious Hills, is even hot and fultry; yet on their Summits, the Cold rages with fuch exeeffive Severity, that it is no unusual Calamity, for the Horfe and his Rider to be frozen to death. We have therefore great Reason to bless the Supreme DISPOSER of Things, for placing Us in the commodious Concavity, or rather under the cherishing Wings of an Atmosphere,