Nature's Rest during Winter. unreasonable, that a partial evil should lead us to blame the whole! Let us rather acknowledge our ignorance, and strengthen ourselves in the consolatory persuasion that there is more good than evil in the world; more subjects for contentment, than there are causes of affliction: and let us also learn, that there are many things which our personal interest causes us to consider as injurious, which contribute to the general good. Reasoning thus, we shall be tranquil in all events; and whatever our lot may be, we shall not cease to praise our wise and beneficent Creator. JANUARY XVII. NATURE'S REST DURING WINTER. THE days of winter, are the days of nature's rest. n the preceding months she has been occupied in accomplishing the designs of God in labouring for the welfare of the creatures. How rich has the spring been in flowers! How many seeds has it developed! And what an abundance of fruits has the summer ripened, that we might collect them in autumn! Each month, each day, we receive some presents from nature. Is there an instant in which she does not either cheer our sight, regale our smell, or flatter our taste? And how often docs she satisfy the whole at once! Like a good mother, she is busied from the beginning to the end of the year, in providing for her favourites the necessaries, conveniencies, and comforts of life. VOL. I. D Nature's Rest during Winter. Food, raiment and delight; all have been derived from her maternal bosom. For us, she has caused the herbs to bud; for us, she has loaded the trees with blossoms, leaves, and fruit: for us, she has covered the fields with corn; for us, the vine bears its invigorating fruit; and for us, the whole creation is adorned with a thousand charms. Wearied with so many labours, nature at present reposes; but it is only to collect new strength, which she will by and bye employ for the good of the world. But even this repose which nature enjoys in winter, is a secret activity which silently prepares a new creation. Already, the necessary dispositions are made, that the earth at the close of a few months may find the children she has lost. Now the corn begins to bud, which by and bye shall become our nourishment: now the fibres of plants begin to be insensibly developed, which shall shortly adorn our gardens and our meadows. Here also, O beneficent Creator, I adore thy power and wisdom! The repose of nature is not less interesting to us, nor less worthy of entering into the plan of thy divine providence, than the activity which she manifests during the spring and summer seasons. Thou hast combined the different revolutions of the earth; thou hast established the most intimate relation between them; and, with an equal hand, hast distributed labour and rest. It is thou, who hast willed that each sun should vary the seasons of nature, in such times and ways as should be most proper for the perfection of the whole. If I have been so foolish as to blame any thing in the government of the world, Nature's Rest during Winter. pardon, O God, my temerity! I see, and am more and more persuaded that all the arrangements of thy providence, how contradictory soever they may appear to my feeble reason, are full of wisdom and goodness. Now, that I behold the earth covered with a mantle of snow which cools it, I wish to meditate on the good which shall result from it: for, could I promise myself either flowers or fruits, if nature did not enjoy some interval of repose? Could I expect to sing the Harvest Hymn, if now, under the snow, and under the ice, thou wert not providing for the fertility of the seed? Yes, Lord, it is thou who, in granting repose to the earthy enrichest man with a thousand blessings. And to me also, O my Father, the time of rest will come. A time in which I shall rest from my la bours, cares, and tribulations. In wisdom thou hast dispensed to me the time which I should employ for the good of my brethren. By and bye the autumn will come: O may I then resemble those fertile trees, which pour into our laps an abundance of fruit! In the winter of my life, when my head is covered with white hairs, and I am full of days, may my rest be as honourable and beneficial as that of nature in winter; How happy should I be, if my contemporaries should say in speaking of me; "That old man had formerly consecrated his best seasons to labours useful to mankind his life has ever been active, social, and beneficent. Even now, the repose of his old age is not idle; for by his extensive experience, he contributes to the happiness of his family and his friends. At The Laplanders. least, he is labouring for the world to come, whose inhabitant he shall quickly be." Nevertheless, the repose which I promise myself here below, is little else than a preparation for new labours. O how much shall I be delighted with that which awaits me after the tomb, in the bosom of eternity! There, I ́shall taste a repose which shall never be interrupted. There, the recollection of the labours and afflictions which I have surmounted here below, shall fill my heart with inexpressible joy. In the solid hope of this rest which remains for me, I desire to apply myself with zeal, to accomplish the duties to which I am called; and consecrate my talents and strength to the glory of God, and the good of my fellow-creatures. Strengthen me by thy grace in this resolution, my God and my Saviour! my JANUARY XVIII. THE LAPLANDERS. I WISH to begin this Meditation with a lively sense of gratitude to my Creator, and pity towards that portion of my fellow-creatures, to whom nature seems to have distributed her bounty with a sparing hand. At present I shall fix my attention on the Laplanders, and those who dwell in the neighbourhood of the Arctic Circle: mortals, whose lot and mode of life are not Their country the most happy, if compared to ours. is formed of a range of mountains, covered with snow The Laplanders. and ice, which melt not even in summer; and where the chain of mountains is broken, vast sloughs and marshes are found. A deep snow also covers the vallies and hills; and winter is felt during the greatest part of the year. The nights are long, and the days have but a feeble light. The inhabitants seek shelter from the cold, in tents which they can transport from place to place. In the centre of these they have their fire-place, which they encompass with stones; and the smoke escapes by an opening which serves the double purpose of chimney and window. From this place, chains of iron are suspended, on which they hang the pots in which they boil their victuals, and melt the ice which serves them for drink. The interior of their tents is lined with furs, which keep out the wind; and they sleep on the skins of animals spread on the ground. In such habitations as these, they spend the winter. For six months of the year they have a perpetual night, during which they only hear the whistling of the winds, and the roaring of wolves, who are howling about on all sides for their prey. How could we endure the climate and mode of life, of these people? How much should we think ourselves to be pitied, had we nothing before our eyes but an immense extent of ice, and of deserts covered with snow, while the absence of the sun rendered the cold still more insupportable? And if, instead of a commoTM dious dwelling, we had nothing but a portable tent formed of skins stretched out upon poles? If, to provide for our subsistence, we had no other resource |