gratitude more acceptable, than by dividing a portion of the bread which we possess in abundance amongst those who have received a more limited quantity? And by doing this, each time that we break our fast, we shall have the pleasing satisfaction of knowing, that the mouths of the hungry are filled, and the needy sent away rejoicing for the plenty which the favour of Heaven permits us to enjoy.

JANUARY XXX.

Of our Duty in respect to Sleep.

IT is painful to observe that most people abandon them. selves to sleep with the utmost carelessness. Considering it only in respect to our bodies, the change produced in them by sleep is very considerable and important. If we consider it in other respects, and reflect upon what may take place during the awful stillness of the night, it appears to me, that we ought never to resign ourselves into the arms of sleep without due reflection upon our state, and being in some degree prepared for what may take place.

How thankful should we be to the Creator for the blessings of sleep! Those whose hearts are oppressed with grief, whom doubts and anxiety assail, whom maladies afflict, tossing on their pillow, a prey to care and distracting thoughts, alone can estimate the value of sleep, or know the sweets of its influence. Let not its treasures be abused; do not indulge them to excess, by suffering indolence and effeminacy to prolong your slumbers beyond the time which nature seems to require; nor suffer avarice, ambition, or any passion, to curtail the necessary hours of re pose. Above all, endeavour to secure a pure repose by the tranquillity of your mind; let it not be ruffled by contending emotions, nor disturbed by the pangs of a conscience ill at rest; and be well prepared to meet the presence of your God; for you know not but this night you may be amongst the number of those who lie down to rise no more. Let this be your thought: If during this night my soul is required of me, am I ready to stand before my Maker, before that Being from whom nothing is hidden?

We daily feel our deficiencies, and the weakness of our hearts; which we beseech the Lord to pardon and to blot out from all remembrance, for the love of Christ Jesus."

JANUARY XXXI.

Of the Revolutions which are continually taking place in Nature.

ALL the vicissitudes of nature are derived from those immutable laws, which the Creator established when he made the heavens and the earth to rise out of chaos. Since that period, upwards of five thousand years have passed away, and the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth have witnessed at certain times the return of the same vicissi tudes, and of the same effects; they still continue to see that sun, that moon, and those stars, which God once formed, revolve with regularity in their destined course, and perform, with uniform order, their allotted revolu tions. If we ask what power overrules them, what influence determines their course, their order, and regularity, what force governs their destination, and preserves them from clashing in their orbs, or from whirling off into the vast space of heaven, we are led to the great First Cause of all things, the Almighty God, who has marked out the circle they are to describe in the heavens, who directs their course, and preserves the beauty and the harmony of the universe with wisdom and power too great for finite beings to conceive or to comprehend.

Nearer to us, the elements are in continual agitation. The air is ever in motion, and the waters unceasingly flow; rivers beginning with small and imperceptible sources, increased by a thousand tributary brooks, form streams, which rising in their course, swell to an amazing bulk, and roll majestically towards the ocean, into which they incessantly heave their accumulating waves. From the sea's vast surface vapours arise, and collected in the sky, form clouds, which continually breaking, shower down the collected water in the form of rain, hail, or snow; and this penetrating the bosom of the earth, and making its

way into the depths of the mountains, supplies the origi nal sources of the streams, thus preserving an endless cir

culation.

The seasons continue for a limited term, and succeed each other in the order prescribed from the beginning of time. Each year the earth resumes her fertility, vegetation flourishes, and the returning harvest gladdens her inhabitants: her gifts are never exhausted, because her productions are always returned to her. Winter arrives at the appointed time, and brings the necessary repose; when this is obtained, spring succeeds, and nature awakes from her short sleep with gaiety, pleasure, and love. This circulation is observed in every living creature; the blood transmitted from the centre flows by different ramifica tions of vessels to the most distant parts of the body, imparting to them life and vigour and then returns to the heart, whence it proceeded. All these revolutions lead us to the contemplation of Him who fixed their foundation at the creation of the world, and has since by his power and his wisdom continued to direct them with unceasing perfection.

We have now seen the conclusion of this month, which is gone for ever; we can never experience its return under exactly the same circumstances. The period will at last arrive when all the vast machinery of this universe must stop, and all its wheels be motionless; when the spheres shall cease to roll, and all the defined periods of time be lost in eternity. But the infinite and immutable God will still remain, and with him all those into whose nostrils he has breathed the breath of life.

FEBRUARY I

Every Thing in Nature conduces to the Good of Mankind. IT behoves thee, O man! to be deeply sensible of the love and preference with which God has honoured thee, in distinguishing thee from all other creatures, by so many advantages. Acknowledge, as thou oughtest the privilege of being peculiarly the object of the Divine liberality, of

being the chief of whatsoever he has formed for the manifestation of his glorious attributes. It is for thee that all nature labours; in the earth, the air, and the waters. For thee the sheep is clothed with wool; the horse by his horny hoofs is enabled to bear heavy loads, and climb the most rugged steeps; the silk-worm spins her soft web; the fishes in the ocean are nourished; the bee burrows in the bosom of the sweetest flowers, and extracts their treasures; the stubborn ox submits to the yoke: and for thee the forests, the fields, and the gardens, are exuberant in riches, the very mountains are fruitful, and the depths of the earth reward the toil of him who explores their recesses.

It is true that, compared with other animals, thy wants are very numerous; but thou art infinitely better provided with faculties, talents, and industry, to make every thing around thee subservient to thy utility and pleasure. Thousands of creatures contribute to nourish thee, to elothe, to make thy habitation, and to furnish thee with comforts and conveniences innumerable.

But the bountiful Creator has not rested here; he has not merely provided for thy wants, he has condescended to procure thee every variety of charms: for thee the lark carols her lay, and Philomela makes the groves echo to her song; the meads and the lawns charm thee with their varied beauties; and the air far round smells sweet with the flower-scented breezes. But thou art infinitely blessed beyond all these, in that noble faculty of reason, which makes the haughty lord of the forest crouch at thy feet, and the monarch of the ocean contribute to thy riches; which enables thee to walk abroad through nature and contemplate the grandeur, beauty, and magnificence, of her works, and not to rest satisfied in the admiration of their order and harmonious catenation, but to reflect upon the first cause of their being; and though removed from their presence, to be still able to enjoy endless delight, from the pleasing recollection of their beauty and sublimity, heightened by the power of imagination.

Such meditations as these could not often fill the mind, without our hearts being warmed with the sensations of Jove and of gratitude for the Divine Creator. When we look around us, and contemplate the vast spectacle of nature; if we soar into the heavens, or dive down into the

the dead so horribly shake our nature, when we live in the certainty of being one day transported into a world of incorporeal beings? Though we are convinced that every moment brings us nearer to the presence of the eternal God, we feel no fear from such a conviction; yet were an apparition at midnight to interrupt our repose, and announce the decree that we must soon follow it to an unknown country, the boldest amongst us would feel an emotion of terror, and await the event with the utmost torture of suspense. Yet we regard not the voice of the Most High, which cries, Prepare, O Israel, to meet thy God!", Let us not give up our minds to unnecessary alarms, but rather fear that Being at whose coming the hearts of the bravest will be appalled, and the wicked shall call upon the mountains to hide and the hills to cover them. Fear to do that which is contrary to the will of God, and you may banish every other fear, and sing with David, The Lord is my light, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my soul, of whom shall I be afraid?"

JANUARY XXIV.

Subterraneous Fires.

THERE are certain phenomena occasionally observed which strongly prove the existence of subterranean fires. Terrible eruptions of inflammable matter, from time to time, take place. The two most known and most considerable mountains which produce these effects are Etna in Sicily, and Vesuvius in the kingdom of Naples. The accounts given of these two volcanoes are very terrible. At different intervals vast eruptions of fiery matter issue. Sometimes only a black vapour is seen to arise, and at the same time are heard hollow rumbling noises, often succeeded by strong flashes of fire, and peals like thunder, accompanied with the sensation of an earthquake. The vapour then becomes luminous, and showers of stones and lava are evolved, part of which falls again within the crater, though enough of them fall without to lay waste the neighbouring country, and they are sometimes whirled to a considerable distance. These terrible explosions are sometimes even more violent. With the noise of thun