Paganism, instead of the light of Christianity; and that God continually works to our sanctification and perfection? Are not these so many proofs of his goodness and tender compassion? I am willing to believe that it is impossible any body can think of reckoning the amazing number of God's blessings. Let us then limit ourselves to a single day, and endeavour to compute the mercies which each day brings with it: light, air, food, strength to labour, the dwelling we inhabit, and the relations on which our happiness depends.

O may these daily proofs of the providence and goodness of God make the strongest and most lasting impression on our hearts! They will undoubtedly, if our souls are susceptible of any emotions of gratitude. If we have any sense of the greatness of God's mercy, and our own unworthiness, it is impossible we should not feel the highest gratitude towards the Preserver of our lives. But, in order to maintain in our hearts a lively remembrance of God's blessings, let us often compute then. The more we think of them, the more we shall be disposed to magnify the Lord our God, and the more delighted we shall be in celebrating his praise.

FEB. XXVI.

Tranquillity of the Night.

I CANNOT think, without admiration and gratitude, on the tender care of Providence to secure us repose at night. When the day closes, a calm spread over all nature, which proclaims to every creature a rest from labour, and invites mankind to sleep. During the time destined for the repose of man, nature, in favour of him, suspends noise, dazzling light, and every lively im.

pression. All animals, whose activity might dis turb our sleep, have themselves occasion to sleep. The birds seek their nests; the horse, the ox, and our other domestic animals, sleep around us. But this tranquillity in the night is not equally agreeable to every body. Many, who, from pain, sickness, and other accidents, pass restless nights, wish this calm, this melancholy silence interrupted. Their sufferings and their uneasiness seems to increase, while all are asleep around them. They reckon the hours, and are impatient of day, in the hope that society will be some relief to them. Many wicked people also, who pass the day in continual disorder and dissipation, find the tranquillity of the night painful and trou blesome. It awakens their conscience, and the least noise frightens them.

I bless thee, O God, for making the repose of night so agreeable and refreshing. The health and peace of mind I enjoy, procure me the sweetest sleep. When I have gone through the labours of the day, the coming of night makes me adore thy goodness, which has disposed all things so happily to give us a quiet repose. I lie down with tranquillity, while wicked men and robbers walk in the dark paths of crimes and sin I sleep in peace, while many sick people, lying on a bed of pain and infirmities, are sighing for sleep. They would consider the smallest rest as a blessing, and cannot obtain it. I enjoy a refreshing slumber, while the intemperate man is still loading himself with meat and drink; while the miser is tormenting himself with sordid care, and with the fear of one day wanting the necessaries of life; and while the discontented and ambitious man rolls in his mind the most distant plans of future elevation and greatness.

But how often does man interrupt the tranquil. lity of night by levity or malice! The boisterous moise of drunkards, and the wild spirits of liber

tines, often disturb the repose of others, and deprive them of the sweets of sleep. Ought we not to respect the order God has so wisely established in nature, too much to disturb it in the levity of our hearts?-Ought we not to love our fellow. creatures enough to prevent us from disturbing their sleep, and, by that means, perhaps hurting both health and life?—Alas! this ill-timed noise may happen to disturb and frighten, in one place, a dying person; in another, a woman in labour, or a mother nursing her child.

The repose I hope for in the grave will be very different. There I shall sleep in peace, and shall not be awakened till the voice of my Judge shall call me back to life. How happy are the faithful, whom death has sent to God! They are released from all the miseries to which we are subject in this world. Here the very happiest life is passed in continual hopes and fears, and our repose is disturbed by numberless troubles and anxieties. The righteous, on the contrary, whose bodies rest quietly in the grave, are free from all misery; and never more will cares, sorrow, or pain, embitter their joy.

FEB. XXVII.

Winter is the Image of our Life.

IN these winter days there are continual changes. Flakes of snow and showers of rain, storms and calms, cloudy days and serene skies, succeed each other. The snow has scarce covered nature with its brilliant whiteness, when the rain comes to destroy it. The sun scarce shows itself, when it again disappears from us. Are there not the same vicissitudes in the moral world? If many of the days of winter are dark, dull, and gloomy, so are many scenes through life. But as storms and darkness are necessary, and conformable to

the wise laws of nature, so are the disagreeable accidents and the adversity which we sometimes experience in the world. Who can prevent the day from being obscured by dark clouds; or our happiness from being disturbed, sometimes by others, and sometimes by accidents? How is it possible the sky should be always calm and serene; or that our minds should enjoy uninter rupted repose? The present constitution of our nature will as little admit of our being always free from pain and disagreeable sensations, as the constitution of the corporeal world would admit Pasof the air never being loaded with clouds. sions, which often produce good, but often also produce bad effects, are exactly, in the moral world, what storms are in nature: and, as winter and frost are sources of fertility, so are afflictions and sufferings the means to attain wisdom and virtue. Dark ness teaches us the value of light. A continual light would dazzle and fatigue the sight. A serene day never gives us so much pleasure as when it has been preceded by dark and cloudy weather. In the same manner, we should be less sensible of the blessing of health, were we not taught to feel it by the painful effects of sickness. The excellence and advantage of friendship would touch us less sensibly, if we did not sometimes meet with faithless and false friends. After all, it is certain that we in general are too much inclined to exaggerate our evils. The events and accidents which happen to us are Our selfseldom as melancholy as we imagine. love, our pride, and our excess of delicacy, blind us often to such a degree, that we look on every thing that happens to us as real and great evils; while, on the contrary, we take no notice of our real advantages, and the sweets which attend us. It is at least certain, that all our troubles ought to be reckoned as nothing, in comparison of the multitude of blessings and pleasures that are be

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stowed upon us by Divine Providence. Those very evils of which we complain, will prove real, though disguised blessings, if we know how to make a good use of them; just as the snow, the storms, the frost, and other variations of the pre sent season, are means which God makes use of to grant us new favours. When the sky has been long dark and stormy, the clouds at length dissipate, and calm and sunshine bring back joy and gladness. The heavier the showers are, the sooner the clouds vanish. The darker they are, the sooner the rays of the sun disperse them. Misfortunes fill up but a short space of our lives, and when they appear to us the heaviest, when we seem sinking under them, it is a proof that they are soon to end.

I will accept then, without murmuring, the portion of evil it has pleased God to allot me. 1 should be unreasonable to expect nothing but pleasure and days of happiness. No: let rain and sunshine, darkness and light, succeed alternately through the course of my life, I am, O Lord, resigned to it. If thou thinkest proper to rouse and shake my soul by the storms of adversity, thy will be done! What matter whether the cup that is given me be more or less bitter, that my troubles be more or less durable, while I am on this side the grave. I know in whom I have believed. I know, O my God! that thou wilt one day grant me eternal salvation. Those who sow here below in tears, will reap with songs of triumph. When the short miseries of life are over, I shall find how advantageous they have been to me; and I shall bless God, for having conducted me to heaven, through paths of tribulatiou and

sorrow.

These are the thoughts which will support me in every misfortune. As the expectation of spring makes the gloomy appearance of winter supportable, so does the sweet hope of futurity encourage