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occupied before, without losing any of its elastic force by this prodigious dilatation.

These are so many wonders well worth our admiration; and in them we find the cause of a multitude of astonishing effects. It is air which supports our globe, and keeps it in its orbit. It is in the air that the clouds meet, which assume so many different forms and colours; and which, according as they are condensed or rarified, collect the vapours, or shed them in rain, hail, or snow, upon the earth. Without air we could not make use of our senses, or breathe. Therefore the air also proclaims the rich resources of God's wisdom and knowledge, as well as his goodness and mercy.

MARCH XXIV.

There is nothing new under the Sun.

IT is certain that, in respect to us, there hap pens many new things upon the earth. Nature causes new flowers to blow every season, and other fruits to ripen. The scene of nature changes every year. Each day brings new events and new revolutions. The situation of objects change daily, or rather, they present themselves to our senses under different forms. But it is only rela tively to our limited understandings and knowledge, that it can really be said, there is any new thing under the sun. Nothing is more certain than the saying of Solomon, that, " What has been will be, and what has been done will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." God, whose wisdom is infinite, has not thought proper to multiply beings unnecessarily. There are as many as our wants, our pleasures, or our curiosity require. We cannot even gain a super. ficial knowledge of all the works of our Creator,

much less are we able to exhaust them. Our senses are not subtle enough to perceive all that God has formed. Our understandings are too weak, to conceive a just and perfect idea of all created beings." We therefore sometimes imagine there are many new things under the sunfor, as the whole creation is immense, and as we cannot take in all the parts of it at once, we fancy that each point of view we see in it for the first time, is new, because the Creator has, in every part of the world, made a wonderful variety and diversity. The world does not require a continued creation to extend to infinity. It is enough that the Being of beings should maintain the order he has established from the beginning. God is an artist who requires but a small number of springs to vary the works he has produced; and which are, however, so varied, and in so great a number, that, though they succeed one another, and return with the greatest regularity, they appear to us ever new. Let us be content to enjoy with gratitude the things he has created, without undertaking to sound the depths of them, or attempting to take in their vast extent. The impossibility of our reckoning all the works of the creation, is, in some sort, the seal by which we may conclude that the world is the work of a God; and it is, at the same time, a certain proof of the weakness of our understandings. But have there not been discoveries made lately, which were formerly entirely unknown? Do not all the kingdoms of nature now present phenomena to us that we had no idea of formerly? The most of these discoveries we owe, less to our sagacity than to our wants. In proportion as these multiplied, new means were necessary to supply them, and Providence deigned to furnish us with those. But the means existed before we discovered them. The minerals, plants, and animals, which we have lately learned to know, existed in the bo

som of the earth, or on its surface, before the enquiries and labour of man had made them visible to us. It is certain, even, that many of the discoveries we boast the most of, were made by the ancients, or at least partly discovered. If the world was the work of chance, we should now and then see new productions: why then do we not see new kinds of animals, plants, and stones? It is because all has been planned by the infinite wisdom of God. All that he does is so perfect, that it does not require to be renewed or created again; there is sufficient for our convenience and use. Nothing was made by chance. All events have been determined by infinite wisdom, and are linked together in one chain. The whole fabric of the world is preserved by the providence of its Creator, and by the concurrence of laws, both general and particular. All is stamped with wisdom, order, and greatness. In all, and by all, God is praised and magnified. To him be glory, now and for evermore.

MARCH XXV.

Caves in the Mountains.

CAVES are generally found in the mountains, and seldom, or not at all, in the plains. They are formed, as the precipices are, by falling in of rocks; or, like the abyss, by the working of fire. Caves, therefore, may be produced by the same causes which produce the quaking, opening, and falling in of the earth; and these causes are, the explosion of volcanos, the action of subterraneous vapours, and earthquakes: for they make disorder, and throw down buildings, which must necessarily form caves, holes, and openings of every sort. But why are these caves? Of what

use are they? Suppose even that we could discover no use in them, we ought still to be convinced that they were formed for very wise purposes. As there is nothing on earth useless, can we suppose caves are of no use? But it is not difficult to shew that they are really very useful. The waters collect there in order to be afterwards spread over the earth, and to moisten it when the rain falls. The caves in the mountains keep up the course of the waters in the subterraneous canals. As soon as that circulation is stopped, there come shocks and earthquakes, which spread terror and desolation over our globe. The air contained and confined within the earth, escapes through dens and caves. These openings, therefore, are necessary, that the air may penetrate into the mountains, to give a passage to the winds and a vent to exhalations: for, if the openings in caves do not admit a free circulation, the air contained in them would corrupt, or would lift up and shake the earth. Those caves often fill with waters, from whence rivers and lakes are afterwards formed. Such is the lake Zernith in Carniola, which fills at certain times, and at others dries up, or is lost under the neighbour. ing mountains, in such a manner that it is sometimes navigable, and at other seasons may be ploughed.-How many animals would perish, if the mountain-caves did not serve them for asylums and retreats during winter? If there were no caves, we should be deprived of several mine. rals, and many other valuable productions, which cannot be formed or become perfect, but in some subterraneous caverns. We see, then, that even in this respect the wisdom and goodness of our Creator are manifest in a sensible degree. We have a new proof of that great truth, that there is nothing useless in nature, nothing too much, or any thing which is not done with wisdom,

and for the general good. The more we employ ourselves in these researches, the more we shall adore the sublime perfections of God.

MARCH XXVI.

Circulation of the Sap in Trees.

THE trees, which for several months appeared quite dead, begin insensibly to revive. Some weeks hence we shall discover in them still more signs of life. In a short time, the buds will grow large, will open, and produce their precious blossoms. We have it always in our power to observe this revolution regularly in the beginning of each spring; but, perhaps, have been hitherto ignorant by what means it operates. The effects we observe in spring, in trees, and other vegetables, are produced by the sap, which is put in motion in the stalks of the trees, by the air and increase of heat. As the life of animals depends on the circulation of their blood, so also ́the life and growth of plants and trees depend on the circulation of sap. For this purpose, God has formed and disposed of all parts of vege. tables, so as to concur towards the preparation, preservation, and circulation of this nourishing juice. It is chiefly by means of the bark, that the sap, in spring, rises from the roots into the bodies of trees, and even conveys, throughout the year, all the nourishment to the branches and fruit. The wood of the tree is composed of small long fibres, which extend in a direct line the whole length of the tree to the top; and which are very closely joined together. Among those fibres, there are some so small and fine, that one of them, though scarce as thick as a hair, contains more than eight thousand little

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