NOVEMBER XIX.

ORDER AND REGULARITY OF NATURE.

When we contemplate the world, we discover in every direction the traces of a supreme intelligence, which has ordered every thing, and foreseen all the effects that would result from the powers which were imparted to nature; an intelligence which has considered, weighed, and measured all things to answer his designs with a wisdom that is infinite. Thus, the universe being once formed can subsist for ever, and constantly fulfil its destination, without any necessity for the first established laws being changed; whilst the contrary is too often the case with the works of men. Machines the most skilfully constructed soon cease to answer their intended purposes: they require frequent repairs, are soon worn out, and rendered unfit for use. The cause of these derangements and irregularities is to be looked for in their general construction; for there is no artist, however able he may be, who can foresee all the changes to which his works will be subjected, much less can he obviate them.

The corporeal world may also be regarded as a machine, whose component parts and different uses are innumerable. It is divided into several globes, luminous and opaque, which serve for habitations to an infinite number of living creatures of every species. The opaque globes move in orbs prescribed to them, and at regular periods, round the luminous globes, and receive from them their light, heat, day and night, diversity of seasons and temperature, growth, and nourishment, according to the nature and wants of the different inhabitants. The position and mutual gravitation of the planets are so diversified, that it seems also impossible to determine beforehand the time when they will return to the point whence they set out, and recommence their periodical course; and, notwithstanding the diversity of phenomena which these globes present to us, and the astonishing multiplicity of their movements, it has not once happened, in the course of thousands of years, that these enormous masses have ever in the least interrupted or obstructed each other in their revolutions. All the planets regularly traverse their orbs in the time allotted them. They have always preserved their order and respective distances, and have not approached nearer to the sun. Their forces are always in equipoise, and preserve the same relation to each other. The fixed stars are the same to-day as they were a thousand years ago; nor has any alteration taken place in the height of the sun, the duration of night and day, or the length of years and seasons. An incontestable proof that in the first arrangement of the heavenly bodies, in the measure, the laws, and the relations of their forces, in the regularity and rapidity of their course, the Author of Nature has foreseen and determined the future state of the world, and of its component parts, to the utmost limits of time.

The same may be said of our earth, inasmuch as it is annually

subjected to different revolutions and changes of temperature. For though it may at first seem as if fine weather, cold, heat, rain, dew, snow, hail, storms, lightning, and winds, vary indifferently, and are dispensed by accident; that it is by mere chance that waters inundate the earth, and convert dry land into lakes, and produce continents where once were seas; that some mountains are formed, whilst others moulder into dust; that rivers dry up, or change their course; yet it is certainly true that each modification of our earth has its sufficient cause in that which precedes it, and the whole in that which was established in the beginning of the creation.

Nothing is more proper to convince us how little we know of the particular causes of natural events, and their connexion with the future, than that diversity which we observe in the temperature of the air; a diversity that has so much influence upon the aspect and fertility of our globe. In vain may we multiply our meteorological observations; we cannot with any certainty deduce from them certain rules and consequences for the future; and we never find one year exactly resemble another. However, we are well assured that these continued variations, this seeming confusion of the elements, neither alter the figure of our globe, destroy its equilibrium, nor render it uninhabitable; but, on the contrary, that they are the true means of preserving, from year to year, its order, fertility, and abundance.

Thus the world is not composed of unconnected, disjointed materials, of parts without relation or dependence upon each other; but is a regular and perfect whole, whose structure and arrangement are the work of a supreme intelligence. If we see in the world a multitude of beings with the same nature and destination as ourselves, and catenated together by a number of links; if we discover classes and species of other creatures still more numerous, which have also mutual ties of connexion, more or less distant; if we acknowledge that by the mixture and action of the elements all these animated beings are supported, and receive all that their nature requires; and if we then elevate our views, and, carrying them further, consider the relations which exist between our earth and the heavenly bodies, their constant regularity of motion, the conformity and wonderful harmony that prevail between all the spheres within our sight, we shall be more and more filled with admiration and astonishment at the magnificence, order, and beauty of nature, and shall be more deeply convinced of the infinite wisdom of the Creator; and from what we are permitted to know at present of the beauty and harmony of the material world, we may form some faint idea of the glory of that eternal light which will one day manifest to the righteous, in the regions of bliss, the presence of their God, and enable them to read in the book of wisdom.

NOVEMBER XX.

OF WINTER IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.

The time now approaches when the discontent of many people is excited. The rigorous season of winter seems to them to counteract the otherwise sage and beneficent plan of the Father of the universe: the rich complain that nature is become desolate and dreary; and the poor murmur because in this season their necessities are increased, and their indigence is more oppressive. Though ungrateful men may magnify the inconvenience and the miseries of winter, they will be forced in the end, if they compare their lot with that of some other nations, to acknowledge how much goodness and mercy God extends to them in this respect.

In many of the northern countries there is neither spring nor autumn, while the heat in summer is as insupportable as the cold in winter; which last is so intense, that spirits of wine congeal in thermometers. When the door of a heated chamber is opened, the external air, penetrating it, converts into snow all the vapours which it contains, and the people who are in it are thus encompassed in a cloud of white thick flakes. If they go out of their houses they are nearly suffocated, and the air seems to tear their lungs. Death appears every where to reign, no one daring to quit his abode. Sometimes the cold is so severe, and comes on so suddenly, that if a man cannot escape with sufficient celerity he is in danger of losing an arm or a leg, or even life itself. The fall of snow is still more dangerous; the wind driving it with such violence, that the roads are blocked up, the trees and bushes are covered with it, and every step plunges the unwary traveller in some new precipice. In summer, for three months successively, there is constant day; and in winter, for the same space, there is a continued night.

What would those people say, who complain of its being cold in this country, if they were obliged to live in such a climate as that which we have just described? It is certain we do not sufficiently know the advantages we possess, or a very slight reflection would suffice to render us content with our lot. The days of winter, how

ever severe we may think them, even in this country, are, nevertheless, supportable; and if some people suffer much from them, it is commonly owing to improper living that they have reduced themselves to such a state of effeminacy.

Some people will perhaps ask, why the Creator has assigned as an abode to so many thousands of men countries where, during a great part of the year, nature is seen clothed with terror? Why has he not favoured these people as much as he has blessed us? Vain questions! It is an error to suppose that the inhabitants of the poles are unhappy from the severity and length of their winters. Poor, but exempt by their simplicity from all desires difficult to be gratified, these people live contented, and are happy in the midst of the icy rocks which en

compass them, without knowing the comforts that the inhabitants of more temperate countries regard as the most essential to their felicity. If the dryness of the soil prevents the productions of the earth from being so varied as are those of our climate, the sea compensates for it by gifts equally rich. The manner in which these people live inures them to the cold, and enables them to brave the storms; and nature has supplied them with the necessary assistance to support the rigours of their climate. She has given them the reindeer, from which they obtain their nourishment, bedding, clothing, and tents; and thus their principal wants are satisfied by an animal which costs them very little for its maintenance. Their deserts are filled with wild beasts, whose furs secure them from cold. Though the sun does not shine upon them, and they are enveloped in darkness, nature herself lights for them a torch, and the aurora-borealis faintly illumines their nights. And these very people consider their country as the most happy and extensive in the universe, whilst they regard us with as much pity and contempt as we can possibly feel for them.

Thus every climate enjoys its advantages and disadvantages, and these are generally so equally balanced, that it is difficult to say which has the preference. Considering it in this point of view, there is no country upon the earth can be said to be more advantageous than another; whether the sun throws his rays upon it in a particular direction, or whether they are received obliquely, or whether eternal snows whiten the surface. In one place the conveniences of life are more abundant; in another, the variety of blessings is not so great; but to compensate for this, the inhabitants are less subject to temptations, to corroding cares, and piercing remorse; they do not experience many obstacles to their happiness, and this doubtless compensates for many enjoyments of which they are deprived. And of this we may be certain, that Providence has distributed to each country all that was necessary to the support and happiness of its inhabitants; every thing is suited to the nature of the climate, and God has pro vided by the wisest means for the wants of all his creatures

NOVEMBER XXI.

TRANSFORMATIONS IN NATURE.

Numerous transformations take place in nature; indeed it may be said, that every thing in the physical world, at one period or another, is metamorphosed. The figure of objects continually varies; certain bodies pass successively through the three kingdoms of nature; and there are compound substances, which gradually become minerals, plants, insects, reptiles, fish, birds, quadrupeds, and man. Every year millions of bodies blend together, and are reduced to dust. Where are the flowers which, during the spring and the summer, ornamented our fields and our gardens? One species has appeared, withered, and

given place to others. The flowers of March, and the modest violet, after announcing by their presence the arrival of spring, have yielded their place to the tulip and the rose. In the room of these we have seen others, till all the flowers have fulfilled their design. The same holds good with regard to man. One generation shows itself, and another disappears. Every year thousands of human bodies return to the dust from whence they were taken; and of these evanescent bodies others more beautiful are formed. The salts and the oils of which they were composed dissolve in the earth; the more subtile particles are raised into the atmosphere by the sun's heat, and mixing there with other matters, are dispersed in different directions by the winds, and fall down in rain and dew, sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; whilst the grosser particles mix with the earth. The grass which is nourished by them grows up into long blades; and it is thus that the flesh of men, transformed into grass, serves as aliment to the flocks, whose wholesome milk is again converted to our own subsistence.

These continual transformations, thus operating in nature, are so many certain proofs that the Creator has designed that nothing should perish or be useless. The dust of flowers, used in the fecundation of plants, is only a very small part of what each flower contains; and that the superabundant portion may not be lost, bees are created, which make use of it to form their honey. The earth daily presents us with new presents, and it would in the end be exhausted, if what it gives was not in some way or other returned again.

All organized bodies suffer decomposition, and are at last converted into earth. During this dissolution, their volatile parts rise into the air, and are dispersed in every direction. Thus the remains of animals are diffused through the air, as well as through the earth and the water. All these particles, so dispersed, unite together again in new organic bodies, which in their turn will undergo similar revolutions. And this circulation, and these continual metamorphoses, which commenced with the world, will only terminate with its dissolution.

The most remarkable transformation, or at least that which interests us the most, is that in which we are immediately concerned. We know that our body was not once composed, and will not be so in the end, of the same number of parts as it is when in its greatest perfection. Our body, when in our mother's womb, was extremely small; it became much larger when we were brought into the world, and since then has increased to fifteen or twenty times the bulk it then had consequently blood, flesh, and other matters, supplied by the vegetable or animal kingdom, and which formerly did not belong to our body, have been since assimilated to it, and are become parts of ourselves. The daily necessity of eating proves that there is a continual waste of the parts of which we are composed, and that this loss must be repaired by alimentary matter. Many parts insensibly evaporate; for since the experiments which a certain great physician made upon himself, it is ascertained, that of eight pounds of nourish