in our cheeks? We no longer have a taste for those turbulent pleasures which then intoxicated us. What now remains of those fine days that are past? Nothing but a melancholy remem. brance of them, unless we have sanctified them, by devoting them to our Creator. With what

force the spring points out to us the frailty and end of life! Behold how far its charms extend ! Behold the trees full of blossoms! But let us not too much exult in their rich ornaments: shortly they will return to that dust from whence they came. All that showy generation must die in the same spring which gave them birth. It is thus that our lives vanish. An unforeseen death hurries us to our graves, whilst the health and strength we enjoyed promised us a long course of years. Sickness and death often come upon us so much the more unexpectedly, as their approach is concealed under an appearance of youth and health. Let every one behold an image of himself in the blossoms of spring, and there read his own uncertainty. Let us address them in this lan guage: O! ye who are endowed with such charms! ye, the glory of the gardens, and or. naments of the valleys! how transient is your bloom! But what a picture! how instructive to me! That death which I carry in my bosom, I shall soon perhaps feel its stroke. Thou rose, thou livest but a day; and as for me, I may die in an instant.

Though these thoughts ought to render us serious, yet should we enjoy both the spring of na ture, and the pleasures of life, as they are be. stowed upon us by the Creator; but, at the same time, let us mix with these enjoyments, reflections which arise from the nature of spring and life. The thought of death is very consistent with the enjoyment of every innocent pleasure. Far from infusing melancholy into our hearts, it should teach us to rejoice evermore in the Lord;

it should guard us against making a bad use of earthly pleasures; it should inspire us with a desire of solid and uninterrupted happiness. The beauties of the visible world should give us an idea, what must be the infinite beauty of the invisible and heavenly world; and, finally, when the time comes, in which our lives must wither and fade away as the grass of the field, then we may say, with Christian fortitude, Though my life, like a spring flower, wither and turn to dust; though these cheeks, wherein the roses of youth shine, be a prey to corruption; I still hope for a better life, which I shall never lose; and the body, in which I shall then be clothed, will never decay.

MAY XXV.

Spring is an Emblem of the Resurrection of the Body.

MOST of the flowers we admire were once coarse and shapeless roots; but now they adorn the earth, and charm our sight. What a fine image this is of the resurrection of the righteous, and the state of their bodies re-animated! As the roots of the most lively flowers, while buried in the earth, are shapeless and without beauty, but when in bloom have a thousand charms, so is the human body: while in the grave, it is an object of horror, but at the resurrection it will experience a most astonishing change: for, "what is sown in corruption, is raised in incorruption; what is sown in dishonour, is raised in glory." As soon as spring takes place of winter, life and joy take place of the melancholy impressions which a severe season makes on the mind of man; and the first fine days make us forget the long winter and its darkness. Thus shall we forget, at the great day

of the resurrection, all the sad and gloomy days of our past lives. The clouds of affliction in this world cast a gloom upon our countenances; but as soon as the light of a new creation dawns upon us, grief is no more; nothing more can disturb the serenity of our souls.

Spring is the general renewal of the whole earth. However dull it was to us in winter, it is now no less pleasing and beautiful in its appearance. Every thing enchants and delights us; and we might almost fancy ourselves every spring transported to some new and cheerful habitation. It is thus, that, at the resurrection, we shall find ourselves transported into a new, magnificent, and charming dwelling. The new heaven, and the new earth, will be free from all the apparent or real defects of the globe which we now inhabit. Peace, order, beauty, and righteousness, will make our future abode the happiest that is possible to be conceived. When the warm rays of the sun have penetrated into the earth, millions of plants and different sorts of flowers spring out of its bosom. It will be the same in that great day when generations will rise out of the dust in which they were buried. As the spring flower rises from its seed to the height of bloom and beauty, so will our bodies, deposited in the grave, rise on that day in full glory, clothed with celestial beauty. Spring is the ara of vegetation for grass, flowers, and plants. It is then that every thing, which has sprung up out of the earth, opens every day more and more, and grows visible. So will the day of resurrection be the æra of the unlimited progress which our immortal souls will make in all that is good. No weakness will there stop us in the road to perfection. We shall rise from virtue to virtue, from felicity to felicity. In spring, all nature seems roused from sleep to praise its Author.The songs of all the inhabitants of the air unite

as if to glorify their Creator with an universal hymn. Similar songs of joy will be chaunted at the day of resurrection, by the elect of God restored to life. O! with what delight will our hearts be filled! We may judge of the greater by the less. If the earthly spring is so rich in enjoyment, what will be the beauty and treasures of spring in the new world?

MAY XXVI.

The attractive power of Bodies.

WE often see two bodies draw near to one another, without being pushed together by an exterior force. The motion, which produces this effect, is called attraction or gravitation. This power of attraction proves to he one of the prin cipal springs of nature. It is by means of this law, that fluid bodies rise up into the capillary vessels; and it is partly the cause of the circulation of the juices in plants, and even in animals. It is true, that the power of expansion in the air contributes its share to it, at least in plants; for there is a portion of air amongst the fluid which nourishes them. Vegetables are also provided with veins, which suck in the outward air, and, at the same time, help to draw up the juices: however, attraction is certainly one of the chief causes of the phenomenon. No one is ignorant that the human body is a series of numberless ca pillary vessels, where the humours are continually in motion; and this motion is partly regulated by the laws of attraction. A great number of the phenomena we observe in the corporeal world, have this attractive power for their principle; and it is the most satisfactory way of accounting for the motion of the celestial bodies. Those enormous globes, separated from each other at such

immense distances, must be united by some secret connection, to form such a whole as our solar system. And it is probable that the union of the celestial bodies, their direction, the law which obliges them not to deviate from the course prescribed them, the motion of the planets and comets round the sun, all depend on its attractive powers, and on the gravitation of the bodies which incline towards it. How admirable is that wis dom, which, by means of one and the same law, produces the vegetation of a blade of grass, and the motion of all the whole system of worlds!

These reflections naturally lead us to adore the Supreme Wisdom. If it appears in the celestial bodies, it is no less visible in the government of rational creatures. The Creator acts, in this respect, upon principles equally wise, according to the same laws, and all with the most wonderful simplicity. But we are so blind that we are not always sensible of it, because we do not think any thing worth our attention that is not strikingly great. But why should we not see, in the things which appear to us of little importance, the traces of wisdom so evidently impressed upon them! When cities and countries are swallowed up by earthquakes, or laid waste by fire and water, we become attentive: we then see, that such revolutions are the works of the Master of the universe; and his wise providence is acknowledged. Does not the greatness of the Supreme Being appear as much in the smallest blade of grass, and in the poorest insect, as in the motion and harmony of the spheres? Yes, in the small as well as in the great, God manifests the glory of his attributes. It is owing to our inattention and negligence, if we do not every where see it, even in the smallest beings, and most trifling events. To be convinced of the wisdom and goodness which presides in the government of providence, we need not go to distant objects; we need only dwell on what relates