blessings of rain, a soft dew moistens and renders the earth fruitful, and revives the feeble plants ready to wither. God has ordained that each sea. son should have peculiar means of enriching the earth. The snow, which in winter covered our fields and meadows, not only served to guard the earth from the severe cold, but, by means of the salts with which it is mixed, contributed also to the fertility of the land. The frequent storms that are felt in spring preserve the air from cor. ruption, dry the earth, and disperse the rain over the whole surface of the globe. What benign in. fluence have they also upon the earth in making it fruitful, though, during summer, they excite the terror of timid and fearful people! With every thunder-shower the Creator spreads his precious blessings on the earth. One may, without extravagance, maintain with certainty, that there is no revolution in the air, or on the earth, which does not, directly or indirectly, contribute to the fertility of our globe. Each season brings back the phenomena peculiar to it; and each phenomenon of nature produces effects, the happy influ ence of which is more or less visible. Even those plagues, which cause the entire destruction of certain countries, are only particular evils, which contribute to fulfil beneficent views, as there result from them advantages to the world, when considered in the whole.

In all times and places I acknowledge thy tender care, and the effects of thy mercy, O all wise and beneficent Creator! Lord of all times and sea. sons! Thy praise rises from the orbit of the earth up to the heaven of heavens! Our globe rolls in the starry space, sometimes sown with flowers, sometimes covered with snow; here adorned with vines, there crowned with ears of corn. It sings thy praises, and joins its notes with the harmony of the spheres. When the snow and ice change oar fields into deserts; when the tempest roars in

the winds; when thy lightnings make mortals tremble; when the rivers, leaving their beds, overflow countries; when all the elements seem to conspire the destruction of the world; it is then that thou preparest for the inhabitants of the earth health, joy, peace, and plenty.

Here I represent to myself the different means by which (if I may use the expression) God ren. ders the moral world fruitful. In order to lead mankind to a sense of their destination, to a horror of sin, and to the practice of virtue, God some. times makes use of violent, and sometimes of mild methods. Sometimes he thinks proper to punish the sinner severely, to lay heavy judgments, and of a long duration, upon him, in order to awaken him from his slumber. He speaks to hardened hearts, as to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, with lightnings, as with a voice of thunder. With others he makes use of opposite measures: he endeavours to snatch them from vice and vanity, and to draw them to him by the gentle ways of blessings and goodness. I am of this a living wit ness; and I acknowledge, O Lord! to the praise of thy mercy, that thou hast done every thing to lead me to Thee. Sometimes it has pleased Thee to lay thy heavy hand upon me, and to humble my pride with chastisement. Thou hast sent me sickness, and other misfortunes, to lead me to reflect upon my errors. At other times, Thou hast endeavoured to draw me by milder ways: thou hast loaded me with blessings; and thy mercies, like the refreshing rains of spring, have fallen abundantly upon me. But what hast Thou obtained from me, in giving me so many means of grace? Have I borne the fruit which a good soil never refuses when the sky is favourable to it? Alas! my heart was like a rock which no thunder could move, no rain could soften. Hitherto most of the means Thou hast used have been fruitless: but will they always be so? No. It is time to be

more docile, more obedient. The longer I defer my repentance, the more my sins and follies will increase, and the more difficult it will be to banish them from my heart.-I ask but one favour, O my God! it is, that Thou wilt never cease to assist my conversion. Thou mayest either intimidate me by threats, or encourage me by thy promises; lead me to Thee by the rigours of punishment, or by the persuasion of mercies. I bless, before hand, all the means of salvation Thou mayest choose: only grant that I may return to Thee, and become fruitful in good works.

MARCH XII.

The Advantages the Sea procures us.

A SUPERFICIAL glance cast on our globe might give reason to think there is not a just proportion of water and of land. At first sight it appears as if the immense quantity of water, which takes up so great a part of it, was inconsistent with the idea we ought to have of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness. We fancy it might be more advantageous, if the Creator had changed into firm land the enormous space which comprehends the ocean, the seas, the lakes, and rivers. But in this, as in a thousand others things, we only shew our ignorance and want of judgment.

If the ocean was reduced to half what it is, it could only produce half the vapours it exhales; consequently, we could not have so many rivers, and the earth would not be sufficiently watered: for the quantity of the waters which rise is in proportion to the surface of the sea, and the heat which draws them. Thus the Creator has wisely ordained, that the sea should be large enough to furnish the necessary vapours for watering the

earth, which would not have been possible, if it had filled a less space. The sea, then, has been made a general reservoir of the waters, in order that the heat of the sun should draw vapours from it, which afterwards fall in rain, or, when they gather at the tops of mountains, become sources of rivers. If the extent of the sea was more confined, there would be many more deserts and barren countries, because there would fall less rain, and there would be fewer rivers. What would be. come of the advantages which result from com. merce, if that great heap of water did not exist? God did not design that one part of the globe should be totally independent of the other. On the contrary, he designed that there should be intercourse among all the people of the earth. It was for that purpose he intermixed it with seas, in order to open a communication between those at the greatest distance from each other. How could we bring over our riches and treasures, if we had no other means but horses and carriages? How could commerce go on, if navigation did not open unto us the easiest way: in this division of water and land on our globe, I can see a new proof of the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, However distant I may be from the sea, I daily experience the happy effects of it.

Oh! why are we not still more grateful to God for this blessing! The knowledge of his adorable attributes, which the earth and seas impress upon us, ought it not to excite us to glorify his holy Name? Yes, Lord, my heart is disposed to render the thanks due unto Thee; assist me, by thy Holy Spirit, that my gratitude may be acceptable to Thee. Perhaps I am not as sensible of this blessing as I ought. Other people, possibly, feel the value of it more than I do. But, were not any people to remember thý mercies, the sea itself would bear testimony of thy power, and be

the herald of thy wondrous goodness: for all thy creatures, the sea, the earth, and all its inhabi tants, celebrate thy praise.

MARCH XIII.

The Difference between Animals and Plunts.

THE difference between animals and plants is so great, and so visible, that it requires but a very slight observation to be convinced of it. Undoubtedly, one remarkable difference consists in the animals having the faculty of moving and chang. ing place, a faculty of which the vegetables are totally deprived. A much more essential differ. ence is the faculty of feeling, which cannot be denied to animals, while it cannot be granted to plants. To this must be added, the manner of being nourished, which is still another distinction between them. Animals, by means of exterior organs, are capable of choosing their proper food; plants, on the contrary, are obliged to take what nourishment the earth affords, without any choice. This is given them from the moisture of the earth, and by the action of the veins in the leaves, which pump and draw in the nourishing juices with which the air is filled. The number of species is much greater in the animal than in the vegetable kingdom. In the insects alone there may, per. haps, be a greater number of classes (taking in those which can only be seen with a microscope) than there are of visible plants on the surface of the globe; neither have the animals such conformity with each other as the plants have, whose resemblance makes it difficult to class them. Another circumstance, which marks the difference between the two kingdoms, is the manner in which they propagate, very distinct from each other, notwithstanding the accidental similarity