pale light shoot from these northern clouds towards the zenith. This aerial phenomenon, called Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, may be classed amongst those natural effects the true cause of which we do not exactly know. Some naturalists have supposed it to be a magnetic matter, which, accumulating towards the north, becomes luminous. Others, with greater probability, suppose it to be occasioned by the rays of light falling on clouds or mists, and thence reflected.

The uncertainty in which we are with respect to the cause of this phenomenon may be made useful to us. How many things do we not see in the heavens and on the earth which the greatest philosophers cannot explain? This ought to render us humble, and check that pride which is continually raising us in our own estimation, and teach us that many very inconsiderable things often confound the wisest amongst us in their investigations, and elude their most attentive research. There are innumerable objects that we acknowledge are arranged with wisdom, and perform the most useful offices, with whose true principles, end, and catenation with the material world, we are unacquainted. Happily this ignorance does not always affect our happiness; for though we cannot exactly determine the cause of the Aurora Borealis, our peace of mind is not therefore destroyed, nor our comforts diminished. And however ignorant we may be of that and much more, we are yet so far favoured as to know that all the phenomena of the physical as well as of the intellectual world proceed from an all-ruling Providence, which governs the universe with wisdom, and directs it with harmony and love. Those who rightly feel this truth will have sufficient cause to bless and to adore the Almighty, as well as objects enough to engage their attention and exercise their faculties during their short passage through this life. Let us be moreover thankful that we were not born in those ages when

ignorance ruled and superstition triumphed; when, upon the appearance of such a phenomenon as we have just described, whole nations trembled and were thrown into consternation. This beautiful spectacle presented to their troubled imagination armies opposed to each other, and dreadful battles fought in the air; whence they prognosticated the greatest evils. The Aurora Borealis was to them the evil genius which proclaimed war, famine, and pestilence; and terror and dismay spread through the country.

MARCH VI.

Power of God displayed in the minutest Objects.

THE azure vault of heaven, the immensurability of space, the constellations in the firmament, the variety of creatures which inhabit the earth and fill the air and the waters, all display the glory and announce the infinite power of Almighty God. But it is not alone in the great objects of nature that we trace the wisdom of the Creator; it is equally conspicuous in the least of his works. A single grain of sand viewed through a glass which magnifies a million of times will excite the greatest astonishment; and who would not be surprised to discover that an insect lives within it *? Even in our own body we can discover objects inconceivably small and well deserving observation; every-where on the surface of the body are innumerable pores, a very small part of which can be discovered by the naked eye. The epidermis resembles

* The author very gravely asserts, that "if you examine a crum of mouldy bread through a glass which magnifies some millions of times, you will discover a thick forest of fruit-bearing trees, whose branches, leaves, and fruit, may be easily distinguished!"-E.

the scales of a fish, and it is calculated that a grain of sand will cover 250 of these scales, and that one of these scales can cover 500 of the interstices or pores through which the insensible perspiration passes.

Have you ever considered the wonderful structure of the hairs of your head? They are hollow tubes; each of which has a bulbous root, a marrowy substance, and connecting filaments. Every thing ought to convince us that there are thousands of objects in nature which are wrapt in mystery, and that we have many discoveries to make of things at present entirely. unknown to us. There may be a thousand wonders in the formation of our body of which no person has yet thought, and which he would be far from suspecting; and there are some organs existing, the use of which we do not yet know. And how many objects may there not be in nature, so minute, that the microscope cannot detect, nor the understanding conceive them; but which, if known, would furnish new proofs of the grandeur of God! The little that we do know is sufficient to convince us that his power, wisdom, and goodness, in small things as well as in great, are most admirably manifest.

The sands of the sea, as well as the expanse of heaven, the brilliancy of the stars, and the roaring of the tempest, declare the glory of the mighty God. The trees in the beauty of their foliage, and the least grain and seeds in their abundance, cry with one voice, It is God who hath made us; give all glory and honour to the Creator! And to him, and him only, ought we to give glory. The smallest of his creatures display his power: the structure of a fly is as curious as that of an elephant; a single blade of grass as that of the stately oak; and the formation of a grain of sand is as wonderful as that of a mountain. No creature that he has formed is unworthy our attention; those which we consider as the most despicable contain wonderful properties; and as God

has condescended to create them, they are certainly worthy our esteem and regard.

MARCH VII.

The Effects of Winter gradually depart.

THE same wisdom which, at the beginning of winter, caused the increase of cold to be gradual, now orders its departure so, that it diminishes by degrees, and the rigorous reason insensibly verges towards an end. The sun remains longer above the horizon, and his rays act more powerfully upon the earth; flakes of snow no longer obscure the atmosphere, and the nights only produce a white frost, which vanishes before the noon-day sun. The sky becomes serene; the fogs and vapours either disperse or are converted into beneficial showers. The earth is rendered soft and pliable, and imbibes moisture; seeds begin to open out, branches which appeared dead put forth tender buds, and the blades of grass spring up out of the earth. We see nature universally preparing to restore verdure to the fields, leaves to the trees, and the long-lost flowers to the gardens. Notwithstanding the tempests, the hail, and the yet frosty nights, she is silently labouring to bring back the spring; she will soon put off her sad and gloomy aspect, and resume all her charms and fascinating beauties, laughing with youth and gaiety.

It is thus that all the changes in nature are gradually accomplished. Each effect that we perceive has been preceded by some exciting cause; a thousand circumstances which escape our notice succeed each other, until the great designs of Nature are completed. Many springs are put in motion before a single blade of grass can spring up, or one bud be unfolded. All

those changes which have so unpleasantly affected us during the winter were necessary to ensure us the smiling prospect that so soon promises to open before our delighted view. Tempests, rains, frost, and snow, were requisite, that the earth might repose, or undergo that state by which its powers are renewed and its vigour repaired, to enable it to sustain a greater degree of fertilisation. Now that the advantages of these arrangements of nature begin to unfold, and we discover some of the ends they were destined to fulfil, we acknowledge their propriety, and the beneficial consequences of winter demonstrate to us its great utility to the earth.

As the seasons continually vary, so also do the periods and events of our lives continually change. In the life of each individual there is a catenation of causes and effects, which will remain wrapped in mystery, till eternity shall lift up the veil, and show why certain events were necessary and beneficial to our condition. Perhaps we are able to know why we happen to be born in a particular family, and in a certain place rather than another; why certain accidents have befallen us, or why we embraced some particular mode of life in preference to another: all which at first might be hidden from us; but now we comprehend that one action was a consequence of another, that the past was necessary for the present, and that many events which did not seem to accord with the plan of our lives were yet essential to the happiness we now enjoy. We are hourly approaching that period when all the events of our lives, and the secret springs and causes which operated to produce them, will be made known to us; and perhaps we are at this moment upon the eve of taking our flight for the regions of futurity, which, according to our deserts, will be happy or miserable. O God! influence my heart to believe, that so it may be filled with peace and joy; and when the visible creation shall depart from before my eyes, grant that I may enter