ther off, impetuous torrents. On every side is seen a variety which pleases the eye, and opens the heart to sensations of pure and sweet delight. This same assemblage of uniformity and variety is found in all the vegetables on our globe. They take from their common mother all the same nature, and the same food: they have all the same manner of springing up and growing: yet, what a prodigious difference between a blade of grass and an oak! All together are ranged under certain classes. Those of the same species are indeed very like one another; and yet what differences we see in them! It is the same in respect to animals. The wisdom of the Creator has divided them also into classes; and whatever variety there is in them, they still preserve essential resemblances. There is even a certain degree of conformity between man and the lowest class of animals. However superior man may be to animals in many respects, has he not, in common with them, and even with plants, the same means of food? Is it not the sun, the air, the earth, and water, which provides it for them all alike? The plants grow, ripen, fade, and die; and those Jaws of nature extend to animals, and even to mankind. If we next examine the variety of the human species, what an astonishing assemblage of conformity and diversity! Human nature, in all times, and among all people, is ever the same; and yet we find, that, of this innumerable multitude of men spread over the earth, each individual has a form peculiar to himself, particu. lar talents and countenance, which, to a certain degree, serve to distinguish him from any other. It seems as if the wisdom of the Creator chose to vary, in the highest degree, all his works, as far as was compatible with the essential construction peculiar to each species. All the creatures on our globe are divided into three classes, minerals, ve getables, and animals. These classes divide into

kinds; the kind's into numberless sorts of individuals. From thence it is, that there is no creature on earth alone, or without resemblance to its own species. There is no species which has not some connection with others, or a general affinity with the rest of the world. From this assemblage of uniformity and diversity (which is of infinite extent) derive the order and beauty of the universe. The difference between the countries of our globe proves the wisdom of the Most High, who chose that each being should have its certain place, and has so fixed their destination, that it would be impossible to change the connection or distinction he has made between them. Even the minutest works of nature, such as only can be seen through a microscope, discover such union and variety together, as must necessarily raise our souls to the contemplation of the infinite wisdom of the Creator.

MARCH XV.

Seeds.

ALL vegetables spring from seeds; but the greater number of these are not sown, and are even invisible to us. It is nature that disperses them. With this view, she has furnished some seeds with a sort of light down, or little feathers, which serve as wings for the wind to carry them away, and spread them every where. Other seeds are small and heavy enough to fall perpendicuFarly on the earth, and to sink themselves into it. Others, of a larger or lighter sort, which might be carried away by the wind, have one or more little hooks to catch and prevent them from going too far from their place. There are some inclosed in elastic cases, which (as soon as they are touched, or acquire a certain degree either of dryness

or moisture) are driven or cast to more convenient distances. And, what is still more admirable, is, that nature seems to have given to some birds the care of planting trees. They sow the nuts, which afterwards shoot and grow. Ravens have been thus sent to plant oaks: and this is their method: they make a hole with their bill, and drop an acorn into it, which they afterwards cover with earth and moss. It must not be supposed they do all this with an intention to plant trees. It is instinct alone which prompts them. They bury the acorn for their food. It shoots, and becomes an oak. Many seeds, by their agreeable taste and smell, invite the birds to swallow them; and thus transport them here and there, and render them fruitful by the heat of their bowels. After having kept them some time on their stomachs, they let them fall on the ground, where they take root, shoot, blossom, and produce new seeds.

Let us here admire the wise and tender care of Providence. If the sowing of seeds in meadows and forests had been entirely left to mankind, in what a bad condition would they be! Observe, how, at the return of spring, the grass and flowers spring up, and adorn the earth, without our hav ing in any degree contributed towards it. Tender and merciful Father! how great is thy love towards thy creatures! and how admirable is thy wisdom! But this is not all that is to be admired in respect to seeds. It is remarkable that the whole plant, however great it may be, is all concealed in the narrow space of the seed. The whole trunk of the oak, its leaves, branches, and root, are already in the acorn. As the preservation and propagation of all species depend greatly on the seed, the Creator has taken care to protect it sufficiently. The plants which remain all the year in the ground, how carefully are their blos soms and seeds inclosed during winter in the buds, where they are well protected, and covered with

close coats of curious texture. As for those plants which cannot bear the cold of winter, they are preserved under ground by their roots or fruit, till the mild warmth of spring makes them bud again. Some seeds are lodged in the middle of the fruit; others in pods and shells, and some in wooden cases and cods. But every seed is pro tected and preserved in the manner most suitable to its nature. Every where we may trace the Divine Creator. The minutest works of nature prove his wisdom and goodness.

MARCH XVI.

Of the Size and Distance of the Sun.

IF we had never been thoroughly sensible of the extreme smallness of our globe, and our own nothingness, perhaps we should feel it in a strong manner, by reflecting on that immense body which communicates light and heat, not only to our earth, but also to a multitude of other worlds. The sun is almost in the centre of the planetary system, and, in some degree, monarch of sixteen worlds; for the six planets of the first magnitude, and the ten secondary planets, are only worlds, which receive their light, heat, and inward motion, from the sun. This alone is sufficient to prove the prodigious size of it, which is still more confirmed by its being visibly great, notwithstanding the immense distance it is from

But there can remain no doubt, if we admit the calculation and measures of astronomers; the result of which is, that the diameter of the sun is at least an hundred times larger than that of the earth; and consequently the globe of the sun must be at least a million of times larger than ours. The astronomers vary in opinion as to its distance: but, in drawing a line between the greatest and least

that they suppose, it must be twenty-two thousand half diameters of the earth. Now, the half diameter of the earth is eight hundred and fifty German leagues. This diameter is perfectly suited to the effects of the sun, and its influence upon us. Some planets are nearer to it: but if our earth were in their situation, it would be reduced to ashes. Other planets are so far from it, that if our globe was at an equal distance, it would be en veloped in a frightful and perpetual darkness, and would not be habitable. We have reason, however, to believe, that those worlds which are more or less near the sun than we are, have been adapted by the Creator for inhabitants. Either their constitution or their atmosphere being dif ferent from ours, or the inhabitants, being of another nature, are enabled to support the extremes of heat and cold. But, perhaps, what has just been said of the size and distance of the sun may appear exaggerated. For our eye sees nothing so large as the earth we inhabit. It is to that we compare the sun, which is a million of times larger. It appears small to us at such a distance; and from thence we are tempted to believe our eyes rather than our reason. If God had placed us on a planet, which, in comparison of the earth, was as small as the earth is in comparison of the sun, the size of the earth would appear as improbable to us as that of the sun does. It is not wonderful, then, that we should be struck with astonishment, in reflecting on the size and distance of that body. But it was not merely to excite our admiration, that God placed it in the heavens. This admiration ought to make us look up to the great Being, who is the Creator, the Guide, and Preserver of the sun. In comparison of his greatness, the greatness of the sun is but a speck; and its brightness but a shadow, compared to the dazzling splendour of the Lord. Vol. I.

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