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 cold. Even in those countries where the days and nights, during 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 temperature, 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 effects 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.

FEBRUARY XXIV.

SINGULARITIES IN THE MINERAL KINGDOM.

From the limited nature of our understanding, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for us to comprehend, at once, the whole kingdom of nature, and to know and distinguish all the properties and qualities of her productions. We shall be facilitated in our search, and assisted in our inquiry, into nature, if we begin by the consideration of some

simple and detached objects, whose beauties will engage our attention, and whose peculiar phenomena will solicit our regard. At present, then, I shall consider some curiosities met with in the mineral kingdom, amongst which none are more remarkable than the magnet. When suspended, one of its extremities points to the north, the other to the south; these are called its poles, and they seem to contain the magnetic principle in greater abundance than the other parts. It does not appear to attract any other substance than iron, or the ores of iron if you place the north pole of one magnet opposite the south pole of another, they will be mutually attracted; but if their similar poles, whether the two north or the two south poles, are placed together, they repel each other.*

Mercury offers to our consideration properties equally remarkable, and more useful. It is distinguished from all other metals by its fluidity, but it becomes solid when exposed to a sufficient degree of cold. In a heat of 600° it boils, and may be totally evaporated; exposed to the air and agitated, it attracts a portion of oxygen, and is converted into a powder called oxide, which is black, yellow, and red, according as the oxygen is in greater or less proportion. By the application of heat the oxygen may be extricated from the oxide, and the mercury again assume its original form.

Gold is the most precious and valuable of all metals, not only by its scarcity, but from its admirable properties. No other substance equals it in ductility and malleability. It may be beaten out into leaves so thin that one single grain of solid gold may be made to cover 56 3-4 square inches, the leaf being only part of an inch thick; and an ounce of gold upon a silver wire is capable of being extended 1300 miles in length. It requires a very strong heat to melt it.

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The curious crystals of salt; the peculiar brilliancy of some stones; the great variety of metals; petrified bodies found sometimes in the highest mountains; and a thousand more wonders contained in the mineral kingdom, are well calculated to awaken our curiosity and to excite our astonishment No pursuit is more gratifying and delightful, or more diversified, than the attentive contemplation of nature. Though we were to live for ages upon the earth, and employed every day and every hour in studying and investigating the phenomena and peculiarities of the mineral kingdom only, there would still remain a thousand things which we could not explain, but which, concealed from our penetration, would still more and more excite our curiosity. Let us then lose no time in entering such a wide field of discovery;

* The magnet does not appear to be a stone, as the author has represented, but iron only, or iron contained in stone, modified in such a manner as to admit the passage of the magnetic fluid; of which little is known, though some suppose it to be a modification of the electric power; to support which they assert, that iron long placed in an elevated position becomes magnetic; that instruments of iron struck with lightning are sometimes magnetised, and that two pieces of iron may be magnetised by rubbing them against each other in the same direction. But supposing it was the electric fluid undergoing a peculiar change in the iron, we are still no nearer the moon; for we are equally in the dark respecting the nature of an electric as of a magnetic fluid. It is their effects only with which we are acquainted.-E.

let us employ a part of the time we can spare from our indispensable duties and avocations in observing nature, by which our mind will become improved, our knowledge increased, and we shall be rewarded with a very innocent and durable pleasure. The more we meditate upon the designs of God in his works, the more will our satisfaction increase, inasmuch as the objects of nature are infinitely more sublime and wonderful than the choicest productions of human genius.

FEBRUARY XXV.

GOD'S LOVE FOR MAN DAILY MANIFESTED.

To enumerate all the blessings which the mercy of God has bestowed upon us from the first moment of our existence to the present period, would be as impossible as to stand upon an eminence and count the stars of heaven. How many benefits have we received in our infancy, which are now entirely forgotten! From how many dangers, open or concealed, have we been delivered! From how many impending evils have we escaped; and how often has God provided for our wants, and confounded the incredulity of those who regarded assistance as hopeless! Each day of our lives add to the sum of the favours we received. Each time that the] sun illumines the eastern horizon, and that his departing beams leave a radiance of glory in the west, the goodness of God is manifested. And what greater and more striking proofs can we have of his Divine love, than our being redeemed through the sufferings of Jesus Christ! that we have the Holy Scriptures of truth to point out those certain rules, which lead to life and to happiness! and that from our earliest infancy we are permitted to imbibe the pure principles of Christianity, safe from the machinations of bigotry and the terrors of persecution

From these considerations it will appear to be wholly impossible to number the blessings we receive from God. Let us confine ourselves to a single day, and endeavour to compute the mercies we receive in that short space: light, air, food, strength, a habitation, and friends, amusements and pleasures, and the renewed powers and activity of the mind, with a thousand others each individual may enumerate. May our minds be impressed, and our hearts softened, by these daily instances of God's love; and by frequently meditating upon them, may our gratitude be elicited, and our virtue strengthened and improved! The more we employ ourselves in such reflections, the more we shall be disposed to reverence the power of the Almighty, and be delighted in celebrating his praise.

* The author calculates that 'we receive from God 12 blessings every minute relative to respiration; 30 relative to our understanding and will; and 6000 relative to the different parts of our bodies: consequently God grants us, each minute, 6042 blessings, and 362,520 every hour of life.

FEBRUARY XXVI.

TRANQUILLITY OF THE NIGHT.

The care of Providence to secure our repose during the absence of day, claims the utmost gratitude and admiration. When night spreads her sable mantle over the earth, a universal stillness reigns, and announces to all creatures a cessation from their toils, and invites them to soft repose. To aid this general calm, nature suspends the action of those things which, by their vivid impression, would interrupt its duration. Animals, whose restless activity might disturb our sleep, have themselves need of repose; the birds retire to their nests, and the domestic animals sleep around us.

But this dead calm is not alike agreeable to all; for many who, from pain, sickness, and various causes, pass their nights in dreary watchfulness, oppressed with care, no sooner lie down, than, preyed upon by distracting thoughts, their sufferings and their troubles seem to augment in proportion as every thing is tranquil around them: they count the hours as they slowly pass, and the time drags heavily till the first streaks of morning break, and the cheering rays of the sun restore to them the presence of pleasurable objects, and the intercourse of their friends. The number of these victims of disease and mental distraction are few compared with the great mass of mankind, whom health of body, ensured by temperance, and peace of soul, obtained by good works, always procure sweet and uninterrupted slumbers. After the fatigues of the day, we hail the approach of evening with pleasure; and as the gloom thickens, and spreads a deeper shade, we feel the influence of sleep gradually diffused over our frame, and stretched along at ease on the downy couch, soon confess its grateful power. But how often does man break in upon the midnight hour, and disturb the general calm of nature! The tumultuous uproar of the drunkard, and the wild levity of the libertine, often trouble the repose of the peaceable, and interrupt their slumbers. Can these thoughtless beings ever reflect upon their general disturbance of the peace, or have any respect for the ordinances of God! At the very hour of their heedless noise, and riotous mirth, they are, perhaps, rendering more distracted the last moments of some poor helpless creature that imagines a short repose might ease her agony, or they break the slight repose of some unfortunate person who has long solicited it in vain. 'How happy are the true believers, who have passed through the sleep of death to their God! They are released from all the miseries and vexations of a life passed in continual dangers and alarms, and their repose is no longer disturbed by numberless pains and anxieties! Freed from all misery, their souls no more shall be oppressed by grief, nor their joy be exchanged for sorrow and bitterness; but blessed in the Lord, their peace shall be perfect.'

FEBRUARY XXVII.

WINTER IS AN EMBLEM OF LIFE.

During the winter days we experience a continued succession of vicissitudes; flakes of snow, showers of rain, clouds and sunshine, storms and calms, quickly follow each other. Scarcely has the snow enveloped nature in its pure veil, when it vanishes from our view ; and scarcely does the sun reveal his splendour, when he becomes obscured by the dark clouds. So in the moral world we witness as frequent variations. If, during winter, many days are dark, gloomy, and dull, so also are many of the scenes of life; and as storms and darkness are necessary and conformable to the wise laws of nature, so also adversity will strengthen the mind, and render better the heart of man.

Who can prevent the day from being darkened by clouds, or our happiness from being the sport of contingencies, and at the mercy of other men? It is as impossible for our souls to enjoy an uninterrupted calm, as for the face of the heavens to be continually smooth and serene; and as impossible for our frame to be free from pains and accidents, as for the air to remain always destitute of clouds. Passions which often produce good effects will, likewise, sometimes occasion the most fatal consequences, and may be justly compared to the storms and tempests which perturb the face of nature. And as the winter is a source of fertility to the earth, so the afflictions and hard treatment we sometimes experience may be a means of increasing our wisdom and our virtue. Darkness teaches us how to esteem and value the presence of light, the continued brightness of which would dazzle and fatigue our sight; and a fine serene day never gives us more pleasure than when it is preceded by gloomy and tempestuous weather. Neither should we be so sensible of the blessings of health, if we had not learned its value by painful experience.

We are in general too apt to exaggerate our evils, and magnify our sufferings; the events of the world, and the accidents of life, are rarely so lamentable, as in the gloominess of our thoughts, and the ardency of our imagination, we represent them. We are so blinded by pride, self-love, and affectation, that we consider every little evil that befalls us as of the first consequence; whilst we never think of the many advantages and comforts with which we are favoured, and which far exceed the trifling inconveniences we may suffer. Even what we regard as the greatest evils may be converted to our ultimate gain, if we conform ourselves to the views of Divine Wisdom. Do we not see the snow, the tempests, the winds, and the frost, and all the changes of the season, are the means which God uses to grant us new favours! When the sky has long been lowering, and the clouds gathered thick, when the storm and the tempest have threatened, how soon has light been restored to the heavens, and joy and gladness again smiled on the earth! The heavier the showers are, the sooner