APRIL XIV.

Prognostic Signs of the Weather.

WINDS, heat, cold, rain, snow, fogs, drought, and many other changes in the temperature of the air, do not always depend on certain and regular causes. There are, however, some signs in nature which often indicate the kind of weather about to take place. The position of our globe with respect to the sun, which is known to us by the four seasons of the year; the changes of the moon, the period of which can be exactly determined; the influence which these heavenly bodies and the different planets in our system have upon the temperature, the agitation, and the serenity of the air, are immutable, and on them prognostics respecting the weather may be reasonably founded. The consequences drawn from these are less to be contemned, because they are established upon truth and confirmed by experience. From analogy we have a right from the past, under similar circumstances, to judge of the future. It is true, a thousand, contingencies may affect the temperature of the air with changes as great as they were unexpected; but we must remember that these aceidental circumstances seldom exist for a length of time, and though they may occasion considerable alteration in the ordinary course of the weather, they only remain for a short space, and their operation is very limited: whilst, on the contrary, the changes of weather generally follow a certain order, governed by certain rules; and the attentive observer of nature, by comparing the experience of several years, will often be able to foresee them.

We seldom err when we suppose that the north and east winds will bring cold, the south wind heat, and the west rain; and that during the north-west wind it rains in summer and snows in winter. We may also conjecture with probability, that when the morning sky is red, there will be wind or rain in the course of the day: and that a sky tinged with streaks of red in the evening promises fair weather the following day. From the weather of spring we anticipate that of summer: if in the former we expe

rience much fog, we may expect a wet summer; if in the spring there are great floods, we may be apprehensive in the summer of violent heats and multitudes of insects. When storms have been frequent in spring, we have no reason to fear the return of hoar-frosts.

But supposing that we had no power of predicting the weather, we might still be perfectly easy on that hend: the variations of weather, considered as a whole, depend upon fixed laws established by the Creator from the beginning of time; and we may with certainty assure ourselves, that, however unfavourable it may seem, every change of weather is advantageous to the earth, and contributes to its fertility. Let us, then, in every alteration the tempe rature of the air undergoes, repose in confidence upon that God, who never acts but wisdom and merey mark his progress: whose every dispensation is wise and beneficent, whether he rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm, or smiles in the beauty of serenity. All his ways declare his goodness, and all his paths display his glory; wisdom and benignity manifest him in all his works, and the continued experience of his benevolence evinces his heavenly care and fatherly love. Let us for ever bless and adore, whilst we admire with awe, the sublimity of his grandeur, and the incomprehensibility of his merey; and from generation to generation let every one enjoying the breath of life sing his praise and exalt his name.

APRIL XV.

Position of the Sun.

THE sun is placed by the Creator in that part of the hea vens which is best adapted to its nature, and to the great offices it performs. It possesses a determinate volume, and is placed in a space proportioned to the motions it was appointed to execute. It is fixed at a proper distance from those planets upon which it is to act; and this position, arranged so many thousand years ago, he has retained uninfluenced by the wreck of empires and the reyolutions of ages. Nothing short of infinite power could have effected

necessity and use of air; we shall at present confine our attention to one only, which will sufficiently illustrate our assertion. If air did not exist, there would be no twilight before sun-rise; the sun would suddenly flame above the horizon bright as at noon-day; its aspect would not be changed till the moment in which it disappeared to leave us in total darkness. It is true, the sun would strike us with a most vivid light though there was no air, but it would resemble a fire blazing during the night in an open country: it would in some sense be day, whilst the sun and the objects which immediately surround us were visible; but all the rays which fell on bodies placed at a certain distance would be reflected in a right line, and lost in the extent of the heavens. Thus, though the sun was placed immediately over our heads, we might yet experience a sort of night, if the atmosphere did not intervene between us and the luminary.

To recapitulate then all the advantages which the air produces to our globe: it preserves life, as being the principle of respiration to living creatures; through its medium winged animals fly, and those which inhabit the waters are enabled to swim'; it serves for the propagation of sound, and conduces to the formation of vapours, rain, and wind; it is essential to the fertillization of the earth, favours the vegetation of plants, and by its agitation disperses the noxious vapours which exhale from different bodies. If air did not surround our globe, the light and heat of the sun would be insufficient for our purposes; sounds could not be transmitted, consequently our organs of speech would be useless: in short, the advantages which the air produces to the human race are without number; and if we accustomed ourselves to comtemplate with an attentive mind this great agent of nature, we should be more and more led to exalt the works and the glory of God. If any have hitherto neglected this pleasing duty by having taken only a superficial view of the creation, and whilst they enjoyed the blessings of nature their hearts have not bowed before the presence of God, I beseech them, as they value their own happiness and well-being, to endeavour in future to become attentive spectators and observers of the works of God; for they who consider them with attention, and investigate them with ardour, are

rewarded with a pleasure pure and unceasing: the study of nature is a source of everlasting joy the springs of which never fail.

APRIL X.

Diversity of Soil.

THE soil of the earth is not the same in all places; the upper bed is generally formed of a black, friable, and rich earth, which being mixed with the remains of plants and animal matter, becomes the nourishing parent of the many thousands of vegetables which enrich our globe. This bed often varies in quality; at one place it is light and sandy at another clayey and heavy; sometimes it is moist, sometimes dry; here warm, and there cold. Hence we find that plants and herbs, which in some countries grow spontaneously, in others will not succeed without art and culti vation; and this diversity of soil is also frequently the cause why vegetables of the same species differ amongst themselves, according to the nature of the soil in which they grow. In this the wisdom of the Creator is conspicuous if all soils were alike, and possessed the same qualities and constituent parts, we should be deprived of many thousands of vegetables, as each species of plants requires a soil analogous to its nature. Some requires a soil which is dry, others one that is moist; to some warmth is necessary, and to others cold; some flourish better in the shade, whilst others only expand in the sun; some again thrive on mountains, whilst the greater number prefer the valleys. Hence it happens that every country has a cer tain number of plants peculiar to it, and which do not thrive so well in others. If the elder is transplanted into a sandy soil, and the willow into one which is dry and rich, it will be found that neither will succeed so well in a soil different from that to which it has been accustomed. Thus nature provides for each that soil which is best adapted for its culture, each species growing in the soil most analogous to its constitution. It is true that art often forces nature to produce according to our wishes but the effects of this opposition do not always repay our trouble and expense, and nature, in the end, is found superior to all the researches of skill and operations of art.

As the soil is infinitely varied, so also is the character and disposition of men. There are some whose hearts are too insensible to profit by instruction, whom no motive af fects, whom no truth, however forcible and evident, awa kens from their stupidity. Such a character may be com pared to a stony soil, which alike resists the temperature of the air and the assiduity of culture: a character little superior is that where continual levity predominates. People of this class may receive the salutary impressions of religion and piety; but, if the least obstacle impedes, they are discouraged, and their zeal vanishes as quick as their good resolutions. Such as these are those timid and frivolous people who reject truth because they are afraid to receive it, and in whom piety cannot take root because there is no depth; they resemble the light and dry soils where nothing arrives at maturity, where the scorching heat of the sun dries up every thing, because the soil does not afford the succulent juices necessary to the nourishment of the plants. Happy are they in whom, as in a rich soil, the seeds of virtue mature into an abundant harvest of choice fruits!

On this diversity of disposition, among men, depends more or less the effect which the sacred word produces in their hearts. In vain may the sower sow the best seed, and useless will be his care, if the soil which receives it has not the requsite qualities: the excellence of the seed can never alter the sterility of the soil; which, if so hard and unyielding that the seed cannot enter, or so sandy that it cannot take root, or so stony as to choak it up, will never bring forth good fruit. To whichever class we may be long, whether the impenetrable hardness of our hearts re sists every impulse, or the frivolity of our disposition admits of no steady pursuit, we shall readily acknowledge that before the seeds of truth and of virtue can ripen into maturity and produce fruit, before we can attain the enjoyment of felicity and blessed peace, our hearts must be changed. To effect which must be the work of the Holy Spirit; and may the Almighty, in his condescension, assist and enable us to become like the fruitful soil, and, faithful to our vocation, bring forth abundance of fruit, that, rich in good works, we may preserve the gift of his grace in a good and generous heart.