The husbandmen will soon assemble to collect the fruits of the earth, and deposit them in their granaries. The days of harvest are the most important of any in the year; but how much more solemn and momentous will be that great day, when the Creator of the universe shall himself collect the harvest; when the graves shall open, and deliver up their dead; when the Supreme Judge of nations shall say unto his angels, Gather the tares into bundles to be burnt, but gather the wheat into my garner! Upon this day of awful solemnity, the righteous may meditate with joy and reverence: here they labour and travail, and weeping sow their seed in the ground; but the joyful day will arrive, when they shall carry their abundant harvest to the altar of God with songs of joy and of gladness.

Meditation upon death is proper to make this happy season still more useful and beneficial. When we consider death in its true point of view, far from regarding it as the enemy of our pleasures, we shall acknowledge that its contemplation ennobles our ideas, and increases our real felicity. When the image of death is frequently present to our minds, can we deliver ourselves up to riot and excess? Should we make an improper use of the gifts which God grants us, if we continually remembered that the hour must come, when we are to give an account of our stewardship to him whom no one can deceive? Would the blessings of this life possess our affections, if we considered how soon every thing must perish? If we considered that the evening will arrive, and bring us ease and repose, should we murmur and repine at the burthens we bear through the heat of the day, or the sufferings to which we are subjected? Or, if we frequently meditated upon that better world, and those purer and more exalted pleasures, in which the souls of the righteous shall find a sure resting-place; should we imagine that our chief happiness consisted in the enjoyment of this world, and the pleasures it can afford?

AUGUST XX.

Causes of the Heat of the Earth.

THE sun, without doubt, is one of the principal causes of the heat of this globe: and the warmth of a particular place is owing to its relative position to the sun. When he is on the southern side of the earth, the inhabitants of the northern parts have not so much warmth as when he approaches the north pole. The same thing happens in the southern parts of the earth, when the sun is towards the north. In those climates where the sun is almost vertical, the cold is never so intense as to freeze the rivers and lakes; the heat being very considerable in those regions. It becomes also very fervent when the sun continues long above the horizon, and his rays fall for a length of time upon the same place. Hence it is that towards the poles, where the days are very long, the heat in certain countries is sometimes extremely intense. From all these circumstances it appears that the sun and his relative position to the earth is one of the chief causes of the heat in the open air.

But this is not the only cause; for if this were the case, the heat of every summer should be equal, and the temperature of countries in the same climate should be always exactly the same. But neither of these is the case; for it is observed that upon the highest mountains, where even there are spacious plains, and upon these mountains other hills and more plains, it is much colder than in the lowlands and in the valleys. Even under the line, if we ascend from a plain where the heat is scarcely supportable, up a mountain several hundred feet high, we shall experience the most intense cold, and enter the region of snow and ice. It has also been remarked in winter, when, during the day, the cold has been very severe, it sometimes sensibly diminishes towards midnight, and then becomes temperate, although the sun's rays do not impart warmth to the atmosphere. This will prove then that there may be warmth in the air that is not immediately produced by the sun.

There are substances which emit sparks and take fire by friction and percussion. The axlėtrees of wheels not sufficiently greased will take fire when the carriages roll with great rapidity. Other substances will become warm and enkindle when mixed together. If a certain quantity of water be poured upon a truss of hay or straw, a degree of warmth will be produced. Bodies which undergo the process of putrefaction and of fermentation often acquire an increase of temperature. Even in the air the motion of certain matters may occasion mixtures, solutions, and combinations, which produce a degree of heat. Thus we may conceive how heat may be produced in the open air. At first the sun is the principal cause of it; to the heat which proceeds from this body are joined that of several living creatures and combustible matters, that which comes out of the bowels of the earth, from the depths of the seas, and from warm mineral springs. This heat is often much increased by the fermentation that different bodies undergo, either upon the surface of the earth, or in the upper regions of the atmosphere, where they produce warm exhalations. When therefore the particles of bodies which float in the lower atmosphere, and which are capable of receiving and retaining heat, are warmed, and have not been cooled or dispersed by wind and rain, their heat gradually increases, till it becomes intense; and diminishes when any of the above causes cease to act.

All these arrangements are worthy of the wisdom and goodness of God: they are beneficial to all the parts of the habitable world: and every climate enjoys all the happiness of which it is susceptible. But we who live in a temperate climate most sensibly experience the providential and guardian care of our Creator, who has distributed to us cold and heat, in the wisest proportion, with a mercy that claims our gratitude and love.

AUGUST XXI.

Diversity of Plants.

THE vegetable kingdom is particularly deserving of attention on account of the great variety in plants, with respect to their parts, fructification, and properties.

The manner in which fructification is performed in several plants is very obscure. We know very little of its process in mosses, mushrooms, and ferns. Some plants exhibit singular monstrosities. We see flowers which have no tops; there are some out of the middle of which other flowers spring. Certain plants, called sleepy plants, take a different situation at the approach of night from that which they had during the day. Others turn towards the sun; and some shrink and contract upon being touched. Some flowers open and shut at regular hours, or during particular states of weather; and some bud, blossom, bear fruit, and lose their leaves, earlier than others. Plants also differ according to the particular place in which they grow. They were all originally wild, that is, they once grew spontaneously without culture.

The Creator has assigned to plants that climate which best suits their particular nature, and where they will soonest arrive at perfection. But those which are exotics may be naturalized amongst us, and succeed very well, provided they receive a proper degree of warmth.

One of the most pleasing characteristics of plants is their great diversity of form. If we compare the most perfect species with those which are least so, or if we only compare together the different species of the same class, we shall be struck with admiration at the astonishing variety which nature has produced in the vegetable kingdom. If we only consider the numerous tribe of mushrooms, or the different species of plants termed imperfect, we cannot but admire the great fecundity of nature in these vegetable productions, which differ so much from all others that they can scarcely be ranked among the number of plants.

If we rise some degrees higher in the scale of plants, we contemplate with pleasure those which have stalks; from the grass which grows amongst stones, to that inestimable plant which is the chief source of our nourishment. We next observe the great variety of creepers: from the tender bind-weed to the vine.

Another most admirable thing in the garden of nature is, that in all this variety the most perfect harmony obtains. All plants, from the hyssop which grows on the wall to the cedar of Lebanon, have the same essential parts. A little herb is as completely formed as the most beautiful rose; and the rose as the most lofty oak. In all are observed the same general laws of growth and increase, and yet each species is distinct. Out of so many thousand plants, there is not one which does not possess a distinct character, properties, mode of receiving nourishment, of growing, and propagating itself. What inexhaustible riches we discover in their forms, colours and proportions! What pleasure we receive from observing their varieties, and beholding the beauties of the vegetable kingdom! Our soul, delighted with the prospect, raises itself towards God, the Father and Creator of nature, whose bounty is every where manifest; whose power has produced all these plants, and whose wisdom has arranged them in order and beauty.

AUGUST XXII.

Reflections upon the Animal Kingdom.

THE animal kingdom may be considered as a well-regulated state, in which is a suitable number of inhabitants, each having an allotted place; faculties necessary to perform their requisite duties, and rewards and punishments to excite them to action; with a sufficient protection against their different enemies. In this republic of animals, those which are the weakest, and they are by far the greatest number, are obliged to submit to the greatest; and all are under subjection to man, as the representative of the Deity. The inhabitants of