exactly calculated; and consequently cannot, in any respect, interrupt the ordinary course of things. They do not consider that this star, as well as the planets, must have a design of very different importance from that which superstition gives to it. What! could Supreme Wisdom place those prodigious bodies in the sky, merely to announce to a small number of living creatures the fate that awaits them!

May the comet, when, overleaping the immense space which now separates it from our sight, it returns again, be to me, not a messenger of misfortune, but the herald of the majesty of God. I will adore the Supreme Being, who prescribes to it its course; who conducts it through an immeasurable æthereal space; and orders it sometimes to approach the sun, and sometimes to remove to the farthest limits of the planetary system. Each time it shines over my head, my soul shall soar, with a pious flight, towards that Supreme Being, who is the Arbiter and Sovereign of all worlds. Then will I dwell on that sublime idea, that I may soon perhaps be come an inhabitant of the everlasting abode, where, surveying immense spaces of the heavens, I may discover millions of new worlds.

JAN. XXVI.

Snow.

PERHAPS on reading the title of this meditation, some may ask, if it is worth while examining into the cause of so common a phenomenon of nature. My design, notwithstanding, is to awa. ken attention to this wonder; and to shew, that the formation of snow has sufficient charms for a reflecting mind.

Snow consists of watery particles, which are

frozen in the air. A frozen piece of water be. comes ice. Snow differs from this only, in the water of the ice freezing, when it is of its usual density; and the water of the snow, when its par ticles are still separate, or reduced to vapour. Ex, periments have been made, which prove that snow is twenty-four times lighter than water; and that it fills up ten or twelve times more space, at the moment of falling, than the water produced from it when melted; which could not be the case, if the snow was not a water extremely rari. fied. But snow is not mere water; for the construction of its particles, and the effects it produces, are different from that of water and ice. In this respect, the manner in which the snow forms itself has something very remarkable in it.

When particles of vapour, collected together, freeze in the atmosphere, the saltpetre, dispersed in the air, comes and unites with it in the form of a little dart of a hexagonal shape. While a great number of such little darts unite together, the particles of water which are among them grow hard, and take the form of the saltpetre. This accounts for the flakes with six sides, which are composed of points like little needles, at each side of which, darts or smaller threads join them. selves, though their form frequently alters when carried here and there by the wind. How won. derful the form of these flakes of snow would ap pear to us, if we were not accustomed to see them every year? But, because certain wonders occur often, is that a reason for being inattentive to them? No, far from it: let us be the more care. ful to examine into them, and to admire the pow er of God, who, in every season, shows himself so rich, so inexhaustible in means to provide for the conveniencies and pleasures of mortals. Have we a right to complain that winter does not supply variety of amusements for the senses and the

understanding? Is it not an astonishing spectacle, to see that nature has formed even the flakes of snow with the most exact symmetry? to see such a prodigious number of them fall from the sky? to observe the several forms water takes under the creating hand of God? sometimes it forms itself into hail; sometimes it hardens into ice; and sometimes changes into snow, and into innumerable flakes of it. All these changes serve at the same time for the use and embellishment of the earth; and even in the smallest phenomena, of nature, God shows himself great, and worthy our adoration. I will no longer look upon snow with indifference. Its form, and the advantages resulting from it, will lead me to thee, O Lord, who made it, and spreadest it upon the earth. To thee, O my God, who lovest thy works, and whom all nature obeys; who causest the snow to fall in flakes like wool; who spreadest the white frost like ashes; who casteth hail as in pieces; who ordereth the cold to bless and fertilize the earth; to Thee be all praise, honour and glory.

JAN. XXVII.

The Rapidity with which Human Life passes away.

OUR life is short and transitory. This is an incontestible proposition, though, to judge from the conduct of most people, one would not sup. pose it a received truth. Let us judge by our own experience: Ought not each step we have taken, from our births to this moment, to have convinced us of the frailty of life? Let us consider only with what swiftness, the days, the weeks, the months, and the years, have passed, or rather flown away. They were over, even before we perceived it. Let us endeavour to re. cal them to mind, and to follow them in their

rapid flight. Is it possible to give an account of the different æras? If there had not been in our lives certain very remarkable moments, which made impression on our minds, we should be still less able to recollect the histories of them. How many years of our infancy, devoted to the amuse ments of youth, which we can say nothing of, but that they have glided away? How many others have passed in the thoughtlessness of youth; during which, misled by our inclinacions, and given up to pleasure, we had neither the wish, nor the time, to look into ourselves? To these years succeeded those of a riper age, more capable of reflection. We then thought it was time to change our way of life, and to act like reasonable men; but the business of the world took possession of us to such a degree, that we had no leisure to reflect on our past lives. Our families increased, and our cares and endeavours to provide for them increased in proportion. Insensibly the time draws nigh, in which we arrive at old age; and perhaps, even then, we shall neither have leisure nor force of mind to recollect the past, to reflect upon the period to which we are come, upon what we have done, or neglect ed to do; in a word, to consider the purposes for which God placed us in this world. In the mean time, what can insure our ever attaining that advanced age? A thousand accidents break the delicate thread of life, before it comes to its full length. The child just born falls, and is reduced to dust. The young man who gives the highest hope, is cut down, in the age of bloom and beauty; a violent illness, an unfortunate accident, lays him in the grave. Dangers and accidents multiply with years: negligence and excess lay the seeds of maladies, and dispose the body to catch those that are epidemical. The last age, is still more dangerous. In a word, half of tho who are born are carried out of the world, and perish, in

the short space of their first seventeen years. Behold the concise, but faithful history of life! O may we redeem those days, so short and so important, in learning how to number them, and redeem the time which flies so swiftly away! Even while we make these reflections, some moments are flown. What a precious treasure of hours and days should we not lay up, if, from the numberless moments we have to dispose of, we often devoted some of them to so useful a purpose! Let us think of it seriously; every instant is a portion of life impossible to recal, but the remembrance of which may be either the source of joy or sorrow. What heavenly enjoy. ment is it, to be able to look happily on the past, and to say to one's self with truth, " 1 have lived so many years, during which I have sowed a rich seed of good works; I do not wish to begin them again, but I do not regret that they have passed?" We should be able to hold this lan. guage, if we fulfilled the end for which life was given us; if we devoted our short space of time to the great interests of eternity.

JAN. XXVIII.

The Frost sometimes seen on Glass Windows.

THIS little phenomenon shews us what variety, order, and simplicity, there is in the smallest productions of nature. We often admire the extraordinary figures which frost upon the glass presents to us; but it seldom happens that this object is attended to as much as it merits, how. ever unimportant it may be in itself. The phenomenon in question has its principle in the fluidity of fire. When it is confined in the warm air of a room, it tries to spread itself on all sides, and to penetrate that part where there is least matter