winds and seas, deign to hear the prayers they offer unto Thee in their distress.

MARCH V.

The Aurora Borealis.

ONE often sees in winter, towards the spring equinox, a sort of transparent, bright, and variegated clouds in the sky. From the north there appears a splendid light, which comes close to the other clouds. Lastly, from these northern clouds, there dart white rays of light, which reach to the zenith. This ethereal phenomenon, called Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, is still, in some respects, one of those natural effects, the cause of which cannot be very exactly determined. Some naturalists suppose it to be a magnetic substance, which, accumulating and thickening towards the north, may shed a certain light at a distance. Others think, what is more probable, that the Aurora Borealis is occasioned by nitrous and frozen particles, which, rising in the air, and joined to the vapours and to the fat and oily exhalations sent forth by the whales, and other immense cetaceous fishes, which abound in the north, are lighted up, and made brilliant by that light, which the Lapanese almost continually enjoy. Lastly, some philosophers pretend, that this phenomenon is only the atmosphere inflamed, and a storm not yet come to maturity. The uncertainty in which the best informed and most learned men are, in respect to this phenomenon, is very instructive to us. How many things do we see in the air, in the sky, and upon the earth, which are still mysteries, even to the very best naturalists? These phenomena ought to humble the human mind, whose pride and vain curiosity often prevent acVol. I.

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knowledging how limited its faculties are. A thonsand inconsiderable things confound the most learned in their meditations, and escape our en quiries. There are a thousand objects, which, indeed, we acknowledge to be planned with much wisdom, and to be very useful; but we seldom arrive at discovering their true principles, their purpose, their connection with the corpo. real world, and its several parts. However, this ignorance does not affect our happiness; and though, for example, we cannot exactly deter mine from whence the Aurora Borealis proceeds, we can live quietly and well without it. After all, ignorant as we may be on this point, and a number of others, we know, at least, that every phenomenon of the physical and intellectual world happens only by the will of an allwise, almighty, and perfect Being, who directs them for the good of the universe. We have no occasion to know more, in a life so short as ours; and this is, donbtless, sufficient to induce us to adore and bless him, who is the Author of things so wonderful, and so much above our comprehension.

But I ought also to bless thee, O my God! for not having been born in those superstitious and ignorant times, when whole nations were thrown into consternation and terror by these pheno mena. This magnificent sight painted to their disturbed imagination whole armies, and battles fought in the air; and they drew most dreadful prognostics from them. The Aurora Borealis was to them a prophet, which foretold, sometimes war, sometimes famine, and sometimes epidemic disorders.

But, for my part, I find in the mild and majestic splendour of this light, a sign of the power and goodness of God. I behold those celestial lights without fear; because I know that the Lord of heaven has not created any thing to be a torment and misfortune to his creatures. And, perhaps,

there are people in the northern eountries who draw great advantages from these phenomena, though they so little influence ours.

MARCII VI.

The Extreme smallness of certain Bodies.

THE vaulted sky, the depths of space, and its unlimited extent, those vast bodies which shine in the firmament, the variety of creatures which cover our globe, and which fill the air and the water; all these declare the glory of the mighty God, and tell us his power is infinite. But it must not be supposed that the power and wisdom of the Creator is only visible in the immense size of the world. Even in the smallest objects, in the most inconsiderable parts of the natural world, the greatest subjects of admiration are to be found. The construction of a grain of sand, seen through a glass which magnifies objects a million of times, is enough to fill the greatest mind with astonishment. Who indeed would not be surprised to learn, that there is an insect who lives in the midst of a grain of sand, which the eye can scarce discover? Examine also with a microscope, which magnifies some millions of times, the mould of a bit of bread; you will see in it a thick forest of fruit trees, the branches, leaves, and fruit of which are easy to be distin. guished. But even in your body, you may per ceive objects of inconceivable smallness, which, perhaps, you have not yet taken notice of, and yet deserve all your admiration. It is covered with an innumerable multitude of pores, of which the naked eye can only distinguish a small part. The epidermis resembles the scale of a fish; it has been calculated that a grain of sand would cover 250 of those scales, and that one single

scale would cover 500 of those interstices, or those pores which give passage to the sweat and insensible perspiration. Have you ever reflected on the wonderful construction of the hairs of your head; as inconsiderable as they appear, they are one of the Creator's master-pieces. They are hollow tubes, each of which has its root, a substance full of marrow, and several little threads which unite them. In that whitish matter, that scale which food leaves upon teeth, and which settles there (by means of a microscope magnifying one million of times), a great number of little animals have ben discovered; and it has been found that, in a space not larger than a grain of gunpowder, there was a million of those animalcula.

Are not these so many circumstances that ought to make us humble in our own eyes, and raise our ideas of the Supreme Being? Every thing ought to convince us that there are a thousand objects in nature, which are to us impenetrable mysteries; that there remain a thousand discoveries to be made; and that things which are not entirely unknown to us, we still know but superficially. There are, perhaps, a multitude of wonders in our own bodies, which no one has thought of, or suspected. How many imperceptible objects may there not be in nature, out of the reach of the microscope, and of our understanding, which, if known to us, would afford new proofs of the greatness of God? But the little we know is more than sufficient to convince us, that, in small things, as well as in great, the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the Lord is manifested most admirably. The sand of the sea declares the glory of the mighty God, as well as the expanse of the heavens, the splendour of the sun, or the fury of the tempests. The lowest worm bids us give glory to its Creator; the trees, in the magnificence of their clothing; the grain

and the seeds, in their minuteness, cry aloud with one voice, It is God who hath made us; glory be to our Creator! Even the most diminutive creature upon earth reminds us of his greatness. I admire thy power and wisdom, Lord, in the formation of the gnat, as much as in the construction of the elephant: in the humble form of a blade of grass, as in the majestic height of the oak; in a grain of sand, as well as in the highest mountain. No creature thou hast formed can be unworthy my attention. Who can tell, if the ob. ject of the most insignificant appearance may not contain the greatest wonders? A being that God hath vouchsafed to form, is it not, from that very circumstance, worthy my observation?

MARCH VII.

Winter gradually subsides.

THE same wisdom which, at the beginning of winter, caused the cold to come on gradually, has ordained that it should diminish also by degrees; so that this severe season now draws insensibly towards its end. The sun already stays longer above our horizon, aud reflects more heat upon the earth. Flakes of snow no longer cloud and darken the atmosphere. The nights are now only attended with a white frost, which vanishes with the mid-day sun, The air becomes serene. The fogs and vapours disperse, or fall in fertile showers of rain. The earth becomes lighter, more moveable, and fitter to receive moisture. The seeds begin to shoot. The branches, which appeared dead, begin again to bud; and some blades of grass venture to spring out of the earth. We see the preparations which nature is making, in order to restore verdure to the fields, leaves to the trees, and flowers to the gardens. She