be if deprived of these senses! If bereft of sight, how should we be preserved from the dangers which surround us, or be able to provide for our support? We should no longer derive pleasure and improvement from contemplating the grand spectacle of the heavens, the beauties of the country, or the great objects of nature; and the delight we receive from the presence of our fellow-creatures, particularly of those whose mind-illumined face displays the culture of their souls, would cease. Without the sense of hearing we could not enjoy the reciprocal communication of thought; nor be wrapt into oblivion of care by the soothing sounds of plaintive melody, or excited to joy and to pleasure by more jocund strains. Without taste and smell we should be deprived of a thousand agreeable sensations, and should be subject to numerous inconveniencies; and without the sense of feeling we should be rendered incapable of arriving at any degree of perfection in the arts, or of providing for our necessities. We cannot then too much rejoice and bless God that we are enabled to see, hear, feel, and speak.

Let us then adore our Creator, and acknowledge and celebrate his goodness; let us offer up songs of joy and hymns of glory and of thanksgiving to the immortal God, and let our ears attentively listen to the harmonious voice of myriads chanting his praise. May we never despise or abuse the value of our senses, which have all been given us for the noblest purposes! How we should dishonour the liberal bounty of Heaven and the admirable structure of our body, if we only employed our senses in the pursuit of vain pleasures, or in the gratification of sensuality! Wretched and contemptible indeed is the man who has no higher delight, no more exalted feelings, than in sensual enjoyment; who is acquainted with the exhaustless treasures of a cultivated mind!

The period will arrive when the pleasures of sense must eease, when the eye can no longer be gratified with the views of nature, the ear no longer receive the soft sounds of the flute, nor the taste be susceptible of its accustomed sensations. The time will arrive when all outward objeets will no more interest or make any impression on the senses. How miserable then will be the lot of those who have basked in the sun during their youth, given them

selves up to every species of sensual gratification, and ne gleeted to prepare, by cultivating their minds, for the evil day, when their feeble and emaciated bodies are sinking beneath a load of infirmities, and when they will have nothing to rouse their mental energies, which have long since been annihilated, nothing to cheer and encourage their drooping spirits, nor any thing to satisfy their impotent desires. May we ever be enabled, through Divine favour, to make a proper use of our senses, and never lose sight of the great end for which we were created! Let us commiserate the condition of those unfortunate beings who are defective in their senses, and do all in our power to render their existence easy and comfortable; and by such conduct we shall best shew our gratitude for the superior perfection we are blessed with.

FEBRUARY XXII.

The Soul becomes elevated by reflecting upon God.

WHEN we give up our hearts to God, we begin to answer the end for which we were created, and enjoy a portion of that felicity which is reserved for the blessed in Heaven. How contemptible and insignificant are all the amusements of the world, when our hearts have been rejoiced and ameliorated, and our minds expanded by reflecting upon God and Christ Jesus! When I compare my imperfections and inability with the infinite majesty of God, how little and humble I appear; how my pride is lost and confounded in the infinity of Divine Perfection! and how I long for the glorious period when I shall be more nearly acquainted with the everlasting God! But am I sufficiently impressed with the inestimable advantages which the frequent reflection upon God will produce, in order to give me firmness to employ myself in such a pleasing duty as often as I am required? Alas! instead of filling my mind with this great and sublime object, my thoughts too often ramble upon trivial and perishable subjects instead of fixing my desires upon the meditation of Divine Wisdom; instead of loving and cherishing the bright essence and power of this Eternal Being, which unites every thing that is good, great, and amiable, and

alone can make me happy; I perhaps feel no pleasure, but in the gratification of my senses; my affections are placed on terrestrial objects, and I only love those things which are perishable, and which cannot contribute to my happiness. May my past experience render me more wise in future! Till now, I have only loved and set my heart upon temporal things, which are still more uncertain and perishable than myself.

But at present, through the grace of God, my eyes are opened; I perceive a Being which has raised me up out of nothing, which has given me a soul whose desires cannot rest short of eternity-a Being in whom every perfection and virtue are united, and to whom I will consecrate my heart, and devote myself for ever without reserve, and from whom I will ever receive all my consolation and delight. I will exchange those earthly enjoyments, which I have hitherto preferred to the blessings of Heaven, for advantages incomparably more real and permanently substantial. And though I still continue to make a proper use of the good things of this life, they shall never make me forget the love of God; but whilst I use them, and whilst I feel myself benefited by their good effects, when not abused, they shall serve as a constant memorial of the goodness of God, and call forth my acknowledgments and grateful sense of his kind care and solicitude for my welfare. Whenever I partake of any outward good, I will say to myself, If I find so much sweetness in the enjoyment of earthly things, and being only acquainted with a very small part of the works of God, that knowledge is so delightful, how happy and glorious will be my state when initiated into the mysteries of Heaven, and favoured with a portion of the purity and perfection of God! How great is the felicity of the saints, who see him as he is, and live in the constant participation of his divine communion.

If those pleasures which can only be enjoyed through the medium of a frail and perishing body have the power of so agreeably affecting my mind, what must be its delight and ecstacy when, divested of all its fetters and impediments, it has winged its flight to the regions of bliss, and uninterruptedly enjoys the pleasure arising from its own workings; never wearied with thinking, nor injured by incessant action; but ever employed upon the sublimest

images in the presence of the immortal God! If the gentle rivulets that so beautifully irrigate the earth are so pleasing, if a ray of light is so vivifying, how admirable must be the great Source and First Cause of the torrent of the rivers, the Living Fountain of all joy and excellence! how gloriously pre-eminent the Author of the blessed sun, the rays of which only have such great power!

From what we already know of God through his works, we may form some anticipation of the glory of futurity, and prepare with joy and with gladness for the happy moment, when the soul, released from its present dark and inferior abode, shall ascend into the heavens, and enjoy that purity and exaltation, the reward of those who, by the proper use they have made of their time here, are permitted to join the heavenly choir of angels in songs of ecstacy round the throne of the everlasting God.

FEBRUARY XXIII.

Causes of the Vicissitudes of Heat and Cold.

WHAT occasions the transition from extreme heat to intense cold? By what means does nature effect these vicissitudes? It is certain that in winter the state of temperature principally depends upon the sun; for when our globe in its annual course round that luminary is so situated that its northern hemisphere is turned away from the sun, when the rays fall obliquely upon the earth's surface, and when the sun remains only a few hours above our horizon, it is impossible that its rays can be so powerful as when they fall more perpendicularly. But the heat does not entirely depend upon the distance and situation of the sun, which annually passes through the same constellations, and is not more distant in one winter than in another, yet the degree of cold varies very much in different winters. Sometimes a great part of the winter is as 'mild as autumn, whilst in another the deepest rivers are frozen, and men and animals are scarcely preserved from the effects of the M. Even in those countries where the days and nights,

most part of the year, are of an equal length, the

heat of the sun is too feeble to melt the ice and the snow on the summit of the mountains. On their heights reigns an eternal winter, whilst at their base verdure flourishes and summer smiles; yet the rays of the sun fall upon their ridge as well as in the valleys. From these circumstances it would seem as if the sun was not the only cause of heat, otherwise these phenomena would be inexplicable.

Nature is rich in resources, and a thousand causes of which we are ignorant may assist her operations. We know that the winds and the atmosphere have a great influence upon the heat and cold of a country. Hence it sometimes happens, that in the midst of summer, when the atmosphere is charged with vapours, the heavens are obscured by thick clouds, and the north wind blows, that great cold is felt; and on the contrary in winter, when the wind is from the south, the temperature is often much milder. The peculiar nature of the soil may have some effect; and the winds blowing over the ocean acquire a higher tem perature, which they impart to the earth as they sweep over its surface,

These causes, and, perhaps, many others we do not yet know, influence the temperature of the air, and produce the sudden alternations of heat and cold. In most of our investigations of nature we are obliged to stop short of the truth; and the most able philosophers have not been ashamed to confess how little they knew of her laws. We can comprehend but a very small part of her operations, and no doubt it is from the wisest reasons the Creator has concealed from our penetration the causes of so many ef feets which we view with wonder throughout the kingdom of Nature; but we know enough of them to be happy, wise, and content: let us endeavour to use, with propriety, the little knowledge we are permitted to acquire, and convert it to the advantage of our fellow-creatures, and the glory of God; for surely he did not give us our faculties to be buried in sloth and indolence, nor to be employed in trifling pursuits, or to become obliterated or perverted for want of cultivation and exertion.