Jan. 3. we shall find opportunities enough, even in winter, to praise our Benefactor. Consider how unhappy we should be, if, during violent cold, we had neither wood for fire, nor clothes to keep us warm. With what goodness the Lord prevents our wants, and furnishes us (even in the season the most void of resources) with the necessaries and conveniencies of life. When, at this moment, we may be enjoying the comfortable warmth of a fire, shall we not return thanks to the Lord, who gives us fuel, with such profusion, that the very poorest can be supplied with it?

If it was given to mortals to know the chain of every thing in nature, how great would be our admiration at the wisdom and goodness of its Author! But, however incapable we are of forming to ourselves an idea of the whole of his works, the little we understand of it gives us sufficient reason to acknowledge, that the government of God is infinitely wise and beneficent. Winter belongs to the plan he has formed. If this season did not exist, the spring and summer would not have so many charms for us, the fertility of our lands would much diminish, commerce would be at an end in many provinces, and part of the woods and forests would have been created for no purpose. Considered in this light, winter is certainly very useful, and supposing even that its advantages were not so apparent, it would be sufficient for us to reflect that winter is the work of the Creator, as well as spring and summer, and that all which comes from God must be for the best.

JAN. III.

Daily Proofs which God gives us of his Providence.

NOT to acknowledge the hand of Providence, but in extraordinary cases, is to betray our igno. rance and our weakness. In the ordinary course

of nature, things offer daily, which ought to excite our attention, and our admiration. The formation of a child in the womb of its mother, is as great a miracle of the power and wisdom of God, as the creation of the first man, formed out of the dust. Likewise the preservation of our life, if we reflect on the several causes and effects which combine for that purpose, is no less wonderful than the resurrection of the dead. The only difference between them is, that one happens but seldom, while we every day witness the other, This is the reason it does not strike us more sensibly, or raise our admiration, as it would otherwise do. Undoubtedly my own experience ought to convince me fully, that a divine Providence watches over the preservation of my days. I am not certain of a single moment of my life; a thou. sand unknown and latent causes may hasten the end of it, chill my blood, or stop my breath. Alas! I feel but too well how incapable I am of preserving my life, or of removing such and such infirmity, such and such danger, with which I am threatened. Subject to so many bodily evils, to so many wants, both mental and bodily, I am tho roughly convinced that, were it not for the tender mercies of God, I should be a very wretched creature. The union of my body and soul, their reciprocal and continual acting on each other, are inconceivable, and neither depend on my will or power. The beating of my pulse, the circulation of fluids within me, goes on without interruption, and without my being able to contribute to it in the smallest degree. Every thing convinces me, that my faculties, my state, the duration of my existence, does not depend on my will: it is God, who, by a secret and absolute power, maintains in me, strength, motion, and existence. If my breath is not yet stopped; if my blood still circulates; if my limbs have not yet lost their activity; if the organs of my senses have preser

ved their play; if, in this instant, I have the faculty of thinking, and the use of my reason; it is to God alone that I am indebted for it. But, why do I reflect so seldom, and with so little gratitude, on the daily ways of Providence? Ought not the reflections which now offer themselves, to have always been imprinted on my heart? Ought I not, at least, every morning and evening of my life, to meditate on the benefits of my Creator; admire and bless him for them? How just that I should do so? and that, by this homage, I should distinguish myself from the insensible brute, from those creatures who have not received the faculty of contemplating the works of God.

Divine Preserver of my life! teach me to contemplate worthily the miracles of thy goodness. Make my mind capable of that rapture which the soul of David experienced each time that he reflected on thy works: and, when thou grantest me a favour, however small it may be, may I feel the value of it, may it lead me to glorify thee, to acknowledge that thou art the only source of the happiness of man. Then I may apply to myself these words of a holy patriarch: "I am nothing in comparison of all the goodness and mercy with which thou hast acted towards thy servant."

JAN. IV.

Several Uses of Fire.

FIRE is, in some degree, the universal instru ment of all the arts, and all the necessaries of life. In order that man should make continual use of this element, the Creator has caused it to mix in the air, the water, and all fat and oily substances.

How very useful is all the combustible matter which supplies us with fuel. Without a sufficient

provision of it, we should not only lose the greatest advantages, but we should be exposed to the greatest inconvenience.

In winter, were it not for the fire which lights us, a great part of our time would pass in the most insupportable darkness. Deprived of that artificial light, our most agreeable amusements would cease at sun-set. We should be obliged to remain motionless, or else to wander in darkness with horror, in the midst of a thousand dangers. How melancholy our state would be if, in these long evenings, we could neither enjoy the pleasures of society, nor make use of the resources of reading, writing, and working! Consider how unwholesome, and how little nourishment there would be in the greatest part of the food which the earth produces, if, by means of fire, they were not disselved, softened, and prepared to a certain degree.

And how should we be able to provide so many other necessaries and conveniences of life, if the workmen and artists did not procure them for us with the help of fire? Without that element, wo should not be able to melt metals, to make them malleable, to refine them; to change sand into glass, or to give to lime the consistence of stone.

Without fire, nature and all its treasures would become useless, and would lose in our eyes the most of their charms. But let us limit ourselves to the advantages which we gather from it at this moment. What comfort do we find in a room warmed by it, so as to guard us from the impres sion of the outward air? During hard frosts we should be condemned to do nothing, at least to a thousand disagreeable sensations, if the fire, by warming us, did not convey to us a certain activity. How many old and sickly people would suffer doubly, were it not for the benign influence of fire? What would become of the weak infant, if its delicate limbs were not strengthened by a

gentle heat? O! unhappy people, who suffer all the rigour of this cold season, ready to sacrifice a portion of the bread which is left you, in order to get fuel to warm your trembling limbs. It is you that I pity from the bottom of my heart. Your situation reminds me of a part of my hap piness to which I have hitherto given but little attention; and imposes on me more strongly the obligation of blessing my heavenly Father for the advantages I draw from the heat of fire. It imposes on me also the duty of giving part of my abundance, to relieve others from those evils, which I am myself exempt from. O my God, my Creator and Benefactor, deign to look upon me! See my heart expand in praises and thanksgivings. It is to thy fatherly care that I owe all the advantages, all the pleasures which fire enables me to enjoy.

JAN. V.

Winter Amusements.

DURING this season, which many, through prejudice, consider as not being cheerful, every one, according to his taste, seeks amusements to divert himself, and make the long winter evenings pass away less tediously. Several think of nothing but making up for the severity of the cold, by seeking dissipation in noisy company and vain pleasures. It is sad to see the efforts so many people make, to shorten, by idleness or trifling pursuits, days which are already too short. The space of a day is generally filled up by a train of employments which are unworthy the dignity of man, and the purposes of his soul. Some hours after sun-rise, the luxurious man quits his bed. During breakfast-time, he forms projects for the amusements to which he means to sacrifice this