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elements seem to combine and prepare for the final destruction of the world; it is then thou art providing for the inhabitants of the earth life, joy, fertility, and abundance."

Here we may properly consider the means which God uses to fertilise the moral world. To lead men to a knowledge of his will concerning them; to in spire them with an aversion to sin, and a love for virtue and the practice of good; he sometimes speaks the language of gentleness and persuasion in their hearts, at others in a louder and more terrible tone. Sometimes he appals the guilty by the severity of his judgments; and awakens the indifferent from their slumbers by the force of their sufferings. He declares himself to the hardened and unrelenting, as he formerly appeared to the Israelites upon Mount Sinai, clothed in lightning and speaking in thunder; but the softer heart he gently leads from vice with tenderness and mild persuasion. I am a living witness of his divine beneficence, and I acknowledge, with praise and thanksgiving, that he has exercised all these means to draw me nearer to his presence. Sometimes it has pleased him to confound my pride by chastisements, and to awaken me to a sense of my duty by various afflictions and trials, which, whilst they softened my heart, tended to wean my affections from the things of this world. At other times he has visited me with his blessings, and his favours have descended upon mé more abundant than the vernal showers. But what return have I made for these benefits? Have I brought forth fruit, which a good soil never refuses when cultivated? Álas! my heart rather resembles a rock, which the thunder cannot shake, nor the rain penetrate; yet I hope, O God! the time will arrive, when I shall become more submissive to thy will, and more disposed to obey thy commands. The longer I put off the hour of repentance, the more my sius mul.

tiply, and the more difficult I find it to purify my heart; and I pray to the Almighty God that he will not leave me a prey to my own evil disposition, but that he will graciously condescend yet to bear with my weakness, and enable me to draw nearer to him : whether it will be my lot to experience hardships and misfortunes, or to pass along the vale of years in peace and tranquility, I will bless the God of my salvation, and pray that I may not pass my days in in. dolence and vanity, but that I may be productive of good works.

MARCH XII.

Of the Advantages derived from the Sea.

A merely superficial view of our globe might give occasion to believe that there is no proper proportion observed between the earth and the water, the vast expanse of the latter seeming to accord ill with the accustomed wisdom and goodness of God. We think that we should have received more benefit, if it had pleased the Creator to have suffered the great space occupied by the seas and the ocean to have been solid land. Short-sighted and ignorant man! are you yet to learn that nature does nothing in vain, and that God has formed this earth with inconceivable wisdom and harmony in all its parts? If the ocean was reduced to only half its present size, half the exhalations which now ascend from it would cease to form clouds, in consequence of which the earth would not be suffi ciently irrigated: for great part of the rain which de. scends from the skies is an effect of the heat causing an evaporation from the surface of the sea. Thus we find the ocean is the grand reservoir, which supplies the earth with moisture, and consequently with ferti

Difference of Animals and Plants.

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lity. If the extent of the seas should be diminished, great part of the earth would become as a desert, dry and sterile, from the want of rain; and the sources of those rivers that depend upon the rain would be exhausted. The intercourse between distant nations being cut off, or rendered nearly impracticable, commerce would cease; by which we should be deprived of the many necessaries and comforts of life, besides losing that expansion of mind which arises from our knowledge of foreign countries, and an acquaintance with men and customs differing from our own. it is an incontrovertible fact, that in proportion as the inhabitants of a country keep themselves confined within their own little territory, without any inter course with foreign nations, they become contracted, prejudiced, and ignorant.

For

Let us then acknowledge, with gratitude, the wis dom of God in this beautiful arrangement of the uni. verse; that the same medium through which we be come acquainted with every part of the universe is the great source of all our treasures, whether in com merce or in agriculture, and supplies millions of peo ple with their daily food and support.

MARCH XIII.

Difference existing between Animals and Plants. THE difference between animals and vegetables is so obvious, that we can readily distinguish them by the slightest observation. The most striking distinction is the power which animals possess of moving from place to place, which vegetables do not enjoy. Another very essential distinction is the faculty of perception, which animals have in a greater or less degree, but which is not common to plants. A third difference is

the manner in which they are nourished. Animals, by means of proper organs, have the power of select. ing that kind of aliment which is adapted to their nature; whilst plants are obliged, without choice, to receive such as the earth and water offer them, or perish for want. By means of vessels they imbibe the succulent juices of the earth; and their leaves, likewise furnished with vessels, absorb the moisture of the atmosphere which circulates through their system. The variety of species is much greater in the animal than in the vegetable kingdom: amongst insects even, there are perhaps a greater number of classes (including those distinguishable only by a microscope) than there are species of plants known on the surface of the globe. Animals have less conformity with each other than plants have, which renders them more dif. ficult to classify.

Another distinguishing characteristic is the different mode in which animals and plants are propagated: and plants, whether they appear above the surface of the earth or are buried beneath, whether they float above water or are below it, have their roots fixed in the earth; whilst animals are found at large on every part of the earth, or they inhabit the air, or dwell in the waters; they are found every-where throughout nature. And lastly, they differ most materially in their form. Yet, notwithstanding these certain and obvious characteristics, we are far from having dis covered the exact limits of these two kingdoms, or from knowing how to distinguish them in every instance; nature, in diversifying her works, makes use of shades almost imperceptible. In the great chain of beings the links are beautifully formed; from the highest to the lowest the degree of perfection gradu. ally falls; but by such a gradation, that the most perfect differs but little from the one immediately next to it. We find some plants endowed with sensibility,

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and some animals that are nearly void of sensation. Corals formerly were thought to be marine plants; but subsequent observations prove them to belong to the animal kingdom: and there are many substances which naturalists are not yet determined under what class they should be arranged, so difficult is the task of assigning the precise limits to either kingdom; and the more our observations are multiplied, the more shall we be convinced of this difficulty, arising from the great resemblance between some of the inferior species of the animal kingdom with certain vegetable productions.

Our researches into nature are always attended with this happy effect; that the more we see of her works, whether animate or inanimate, the more we are convinced that the world, with all the vast variety of beings which it contains, is the work of an infinite and all-powerful God. Such beauty, harmony, and variety, could not be self-created, but must proceed from an Almighty, Omniscient, and Infinite Being, whose power and goodness we trace through all the varieties of animated beings, beginning with the meanest reptile that crawls on the earth, and proceeding from link to link till we arrive at man, the angels, and God himself, the great First Cause of all or wè may begin with the rudest species of matter, the stones upon which we tread, and mark the variations till we reach those luminaries that nightly present their re volving orbs to our astonished view. All speak the glory of God the Creator, and evince his protecting power and fatherly care: the rays of his perfection beam on all his works; his mercy and goodness are impartially diffused over the creation; and such men only meet with superior favour and divine regard, who act as becometh those who are conscious that all their deeds are known to a superintending Providence, which loves them as they love one another.