the attacks of Satan, our never idle foe. The mind is of such a nature, that it cannot lie torpid (it is of ethereal mould, and is not subject to bodily infirmities.) The moment we neglect its culture, Satan urges on to evil pursuits, and instils vicious principles, the effects of which are felt through life.

The neglect of any duty constitutes idleness: it is in direct opposition to the command of Scripture, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Solomon says, "The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labour; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and he shall appear before kings, and shall not be ashamed." And again he says, "Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.”

The uncertainty of life should induce every one to avoid this evil. Our lives are like the sunbeams, which the first passing cloud destroys. If we" know not what a day nor an hour will bring forth," it becomes us to study to improve the time, ere the few moments which are allotted to us dart into eternity, and convey us to the tribunal of God. We are frail perishing mortals, and “ do all fade as a leaf."

It is a striking proof of the depraved condition to which man has reduced himself, that notwithstanding every thing seems to concur in opposing the spread of this growing evil, he is still its degraded slave. It can never be of the least advantage to him. It will deprive him of comforts and blessings, faster than the autumn blast strips the

tree

tree of its foliage, and will be like a viper in his bosom; it will grow with his growth, and strengthen with his strength, and will darken the fair morning of his life with the shades of despair. Whatever disposition, therefore, my dear friend, we may have to foster this dangerous evil, I hope that every day may witness its decrease..

Yours sincerely,

W. F.S.

On the IMMENSITY of the WORKS of GOD. (Abridged from St. Pierre's Studies of Nature.)

(Continued from page 233.)

IF from the vegetable, we make a transition to the animal kingdom, a field of incomparably greater extent presents itself. An intelligent naturalist at Paris, some years ago announced that he was in possession of more than thirty thousand distinct species of animals. I know not whether the king's magnificent cabinet may not contain more; but I know well, that his herbals contain only eighteen thousand plants, and that about six thousand are in a state of cultivation in the Royal Botanic Garden. This number of animals, however, so superior to that of vegetables, is a mere nothing in comparison with what exists on the Globe.

When we recollect that every species of plant, is a point of union for different genera of insects, and that there is not, perhaps, a single one but which has, peculiar to itself, a species of fly, butterfly, gnat, beetle, lady-bird, smail, &c. that

these

these insects, serve for food to other species, and these exceedingly numerous; such as the spider, the dragon-fly, the ant, the formica-leo; and to the immense families of small birds, of which many classes, such as the wood-pecker, and the swallow, have no other kind of nourishment; that these birds are, in their turn, devoured by birds of prey, such as kites, falcons, buzzards, rooks, crows, hawks, vultures, &c. that the general spoil of these animals, swept off by the rains into the rivers, and thence to the sea, becomes the aliment of almost innumerable tribes of fishes, to the greatest part of which, the naturalists of Europe have not hitherto given a name; that numberless legions of river and sea-fowls prey upon these fishes: wo shall have good ground for believing, that every species of the vegetable kingdom serves as a basis to many species of the animal kingdom, which multiply around it, as the rays of a circle round its

centre.

At the same time, I have not included in this superficial representation, either quadrupeds, with which all the intervals of magnitude are filled, from the mouse, which lives under the grass, up to the camelopard, who can feed on the foliage of trees at the height of fifteen feet; or the amphibious tribes; or the birds of night; or reptiles; or polypuses, of which we have a knowledge so slender; or sea insects, some families of which, such as the crab-fish, shrimp, and the like, would be alone sufficient to fill the greatest cabinets, were you to introduce but a single individual of Vol. ix.

Z

every