ture 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 farther, 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 murinur because in this season their necessities are increased, and their indigence is more oppressive. Though ungrateful men may magnify the inconveniency 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, however 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 the 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 encompass 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 rein-deer, 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 auroraborealis 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 perpendicular 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 provided 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 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 its 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 physicain made upon himself, it is ascertained, that of eight pounds of nourishment necessary to support a healthy man in one day, only the fiftieth part is converted into his own substance; all the rest passing off by perspiration and other excretions. Hence also it may be inferred, that in ten years there will not remain many of the same particles that now constitute our bodies. And at length, when they