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mystical body, which he hath engaged to keep, not to destroy, to purify and to perfect, not to annihilate ; nay, tell me that it shall actually be raised again, with no other change but the removal of all its imperfections, and arrayed in a loveliness more glorious and transcendant than before, and that I shall see it again with my own eyes, and speak to it with my own lips, and walk along with it for ever through the boundless blessedness of heaven. Tell me that, and I am completely satisfied. I feel that I am capable of understanding it. The comfort comes home to my very heart. And because I have the prospect of getting back the same body, united again with the same soul, and that, moreover, in a state of perfection, I feel that the fountain of consolation is filled to the overflowing; and that the hope which passes over the grave, and pierces into eternity, is without a shadow and without a cloud.

Such are the cheering prospects which are opened before us in the Bible, and which every true believer is permitted to entertain in regard to all his friends who have fallen asleep in Jesus. It not only leads us to understand that their souls do not perish at their death, but are made perfect in holiness, and do pass immediately into glory; thus turning into a matter of indubitable certainty, what formerly, and in the view of

possible thing it is for the corruptible to put on incor- | which he hath purchased with his blood; a part of his ruption, and for the mortal to be clothed with immortality. On that account the Bible is to be regarded as a great and invaluable treasure. Even in regard to that one point-the restoration of the mortal and material part of our nature-it contains more sound philosophy, and more solid comfort than can be gathered from the profoundest speculations of all the wise men who have lived since the creation of the world. And were it silent on every other subject but that, it would still be like a well of living water in the wilderness, a light to cheer and to conduct us amid the darkness and the mysteries of death; a heritage with which the wealth of worlds is not for one moment to be compared. For what is the kind of consolation which is most suited to the constitution of our nature, amid the trials and the bereavements of this present life? Suppese that death has entered into my dwelling, and borne away from me some venerated parent, or some beloved brother, or some affectionate sister, or some darling child, or some friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and that every feeling of my nature is wrung to agony with the awful severity of the trial. Oh! then, would it be enough to tell me that I must think Lo more for ever of the image-the bodily appearance of my buried child, or my venerated parent, or my beloved friend the very being who was entwined most closely about the fibres of my heart-and whose like-human reason, was the object only of dim and uncerLess is still associated with every object on which my eye gazes, and every event which my memory recals, dad every scene which my imagination paints? Would it be enongh to tell me, that the spirit is disembodied, and is blessed, and that I must think of it, and of it alone? Impossible. I cannot do it. It is beyond the power of my nature. And did my comfort depend on the achievement, I should still “be of all men the most Miserable." A disembodied spirit, even in a state of perfect happiness! I try to think of it-I try to realize it. But no power of abstraction, no force of thought, no grasp of intellect can bring me to the distinct recognition of what a spirit is. I cannot see it, I cannot hear it, I cannot follow it, I cannot comprehend it. The bond which united us together appears to be awanting. And I feel myself to be almost as far removed from it, and as incapable of entering into its fellowship, as if it had lost its very existence. But along with the spirit, Oh! speak to me also of the body; the body, which my own eyes have seen, and my own lips have spoken to; the body, about which all my associations, and affections, and reminiscences are eternally entwined; the body, whose living image is engraven imperishably on the tablets of my heart. Tell me that not one particle of its dust shall be lost, and that not one lineament of its likeness shall be defaced. Tell me that it forms a part, and an important part of the nature, for whose redemption Christ descended from heaven, and clothed himself in our likeness, and tabernacled amongst our dwellings, and laboured, and suffered, and died, and slept in the grave, and rose again, and ascended to heaven, and is now reigning triumphant at the right hand of God the Father. Tell me that, though to the eye of sense, it may seem to be brought into a low and most humiliating condition, it is nevertheless precious in the sight of the great Redeemer, because it is his own property,

tain conjecture; but that their bodies also, by virtue of their connection with the great Redeemer, are now resting in their graves, and shall rise again in glory, and incorruptible; thus fetching light out of a dispensation apparently the darkest and the most hopeless, and bringing us to sources of consolation which must have lain for ever beyond the reach or the discovery of the wisest and the most enlightened of men.

Therefore, the grave is not to be regarded as a place of perdition, where the believer can be divested of ought that essentially belongs to his nature. It is a place merely of transformation, where the earthly house of his tabernacle is to be dissolved, not for the purpose of destroying it, but for the purpose of freeing it from its imperfections, and rebuilding its imperishable materials into a more glorious temple for the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit for ever. And could we only realize the day when the Saviour shall fetch them out from the darkness and the desolations of the grave, and raise them up to all the glories of a new and endless life; could we see the meeting together, after the long and silent sleep in which they have been reposing, of parents with children, and children with parents, of brothers with sisters, and sisters with brothers, of ministers with people, and people with ministers,--the blending together of kindred spirits that had been long severed, but now re-united for ever; and could we listen to the loud thunders of adoration which shall sound through the universe, when all the mighty host that have been loosed from their fetters shall rise triumphant to meet their glorified Redeemer in the air; could we realize all that, we should see enough, and more than enough, to reconcile us to the most humiliating of all the changes to which our mortal and corruptible nature can be subjected, and to prompt us in faith and in triumph to exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is

sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks | with happy fitness, the intercourse and joys of Christ's

be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

CHRISTIAN TREASURY.
Admonitions on the Love of the World.-1. Be ad-
monished against the inordinate love of society. In-
tercourse with the world is full of snares and disap-
pointments and miseries, and far more men have co-
veted an extension of it, than ever found any satis-
faction in it. 2. Yet, since you have still to enter so-
ciety, though you do not excessively love it, be admo-
nished to avoid the circles then in which you have met
with hostility to religion. You may not, it is true,
have actually been injured by the scepticism or im-
piety. You may be perfectly able to confute the ad-
versary of the Gospel, and you may even have silenced
him. But the frequency of infidel attack is ready to
injure the devotional sensibility of the heart, where it
does not dislodge a single conviction of the understand-
ing; and it is not profitable to be always stationed on
the defensive, so as to turn the profession of religion
into an exercise of argumentative skill. 3. Be admo-
nished especially, not even for another time to repeat
your visit to the society of profligates and sensualists.
The stain of their words is blacker than that of infi-
delity. I would rather have my understanding warped
by the cunning sophistry of sceptical gain-sayers, than
submit my heart to be acted on for an instant by the
pollutions of those pests of the moral world. The
fallacious sophism, a little reflection will enable me to
see the weakness of; and an exercise of reason and
effort of faith, which is strong in its humility, will en-
able me to drive it from me; but the evil communica-
tions of the others, though they may not utterly
66 cor-
rupt good manners," yet leave an unholy impression be-
hind, which hours of serious thought, and days of
prayer,may scarcely be able to remove. 4. Whatever
may be the character of the society to which you have
access, be admonished to keep yourselves independent

of it. That man is indeed a slave who feels himself
chained to the world, who cannot be pleased, save when
it honours him; nor cheerful, save when it smiles on
him; nor happy but in the enjoyment of its intercourse.
He, on the other hand is free, who enters it or retreats
from it, as duty may call, and still experiences no real
change on the great materials of his enjoyments. 5.
Be admonished, hence, to acquire a growing relish for
a devotional retirement. If you find the Bible as the
beloved companion of your closet, and if communion
of heart with your God and Saviour be a delight to
you, and reading and reflecting on the many subjects
which at once please and improve, afford you occupa-
tion for hours of leisure; surely you provide a sanc-
tuary to yourselves, a shelter from the storms of life, of
which neither the folly, nor the malice, nor the cala-
mities of the world can deprive you. Lastly, Whilst
you relish, and benefit by such retirement, be admo-
nished to carry from it when you enter society, a por-
tion of its holy influence. It is an influence that
should breathe over your whole language and deport-
ment, the purity and sweetness of Christian virtue,
causing you to exhibit piety without moroseness, fer-
vour of soul in religion, with becoming diligence in bu-
siness; the receiving of earthly comforts with the mo-
deration of self-denial; the obtaining of successes with
humility; bearing of disappointments with meekness;
the preserving of cheerfulness, while avoiding all le-
vity; the pursuing the secular calling, while labouring
for the heavenly; the taking a deep and affectionate
interest in the affairs of men, while living with su-
preme devotedness to God, or, according to the lan-
guage of the text, the dwelling
in Sardis," and yet,
instead of acquiring the spot of its vices, the rising
daily in that purity of heart and life which precedes

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friendship. Remember, I beseech you at the same time, that He whose spirit is holy, wise and good, can alone enable you to live according to His blessed will. If you know the plague of your own heart, its corruptness, its deceitfulness, be entreated to seek constantly the grace of Him who is able to change it. If you feel the depravity of the world, its unhallowed ascendency, its polluting influence, be entreated to seek from his mercy the victory that overcometh. He purchased your redemption at the richest price. He reveals in the Gospel the heavenly inheritance. To whom but to Him can you apply, that he may save you with his great salvation, preparing you for the blessed portion with himself.-MUIR.

Meekness of Spirit.-Meekness is a victory over ourselves, and the rebellious lusts in our own bosoms; it is the quieting of intestine broils, the stilling of an insurrection at home, which is oftentimes more hard to do than to resist a foreign invasion. It is an effectual victory over those that injure us, and make themselves enemies to us, and is often a means of winning their hearts. The law of meekness is: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; and in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head;" not to consume him, but to melt and mollify, that he may be cast into a new mould; and thus, while the angry and revengeful man that will bear down all before him with a high hand, is overcome of evil, the patient and forgiving overcome evil with good; and forasmuch as their ways please the Lord, he maketh even their enemies to be at peace with them. We read in Scripture of three whose faces shone remarkably, and they were all eminent for meekness. The face of Moses shone, Exod. xxxiv. 3, and he was the meekest of all the men on earth. The face of Stephen shone, Acts vi. 15, and he it was, who, in the midst of a shower of stones, so meekly submitted, and prayed for his persecutors. The face of our Lord Jesus shone in his transfiguration, and he was the great pattern of meekness. It is a sweet and pleasing air which this grace puts upon the countenance, while it keeps the soul in tune, and frees it from those jarring, ill-favoured discords, which are the certain effect of an ungoverned passion. We must "" 'put on meekness." This precept we have, Col. iii. 12. "Put on, therefore (as the elect of God, hely and beloved,) meekness." It is one of the members of the new man, which, according to the obligations we lie under from our baptism, we must put on. Put it on as an armour, to keep provocation from the heart, and so to defend the vitals. They that have tried it will say it is armour of proof: when you are putting on the whole armour of God do not forget this. Pat it on as your attire, as your necessary clothing, which you cannot go without; look upon yourself as ungirt, undressed, unblessed without it. Put it on as the livery garment, by which you may be known to be the disci ples of the meek, and patient, and humble Jesus, and belong to that peaceable family. Put it on as an ornament, as a robe and diadem by which you may be both beautified and dignified in the eyes of others. Put it on as the "elect of God, holy and beloved;" because you are so in profession, and that you may approve yourself so in truth and reality. Be clothed with meekness as "the elect of God," a chosen people whom God hath set apart from the rest of the world, as holy, sanctified to God, sanctified by him. We must "shew all meekness unto all men,"_all kinds of meekness, bearing meekness and forbearing meekness, qualifying meekness and condescending meekness, and forgiving meekness; the meekness that endears our friends and that which reconciles our enemies; the meekness of authority over inferiors, the meekness of obedience to supe riors, and the meekness of wisdom towards all. We should study to appear in all our converse so mild, and

must

We

gentle, and peaceable, that all who see us may witness for us that we are the meek of the earth. We must not only be moderate, "but let our moderation be known." We must shew our meekness not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, for this is thank-worthy. So exceeding broad is the command-restrained the outrages of a tumultuous world, preserved ment, we must "shew all meekness to all men." "seek meekness." Zeph. ii. 3, "Seek ye the Lord all ye meek of the earth-seek meekness." Now the way prescribed for the attainment of meekness is to seek it. Ask it of God, pray for it, it is a grant of the Spirit, it is given by the God of all grace, and to him we must go for it. The God we address is called the God of patience and consolation, Rom. xv. 5, and as such we must ask him when we come to him for grace to make us likeminded, i. e., meek and loving one towards another. God's people are, and should be, a generation of seekers, that covet the best gifts, and make their court to the best Giver, who never said to the wrestling seed of Jacob, "seek in vain," but hath given us an assurance firm enough for us to build upon, and rich enough for us to encourage ourselves with: "Seek and ye shall find."-MATTHEW HENRY.

whence the vast frame of nature sprang! What stretch-
ed out the heavens, established the earth, sustained all
things! What turned the mighty wheels of providence
throughout all the successions of time! What order-
ed and changed times and seasons, chained up devils,
God's little flock! Especially what gave birth to the
new creation; what made hearts love God, embrace a
Saviour; what it was overcame their own, and made
them a willing people in that memorable day! And
what do we think of the ravishing aspects of his love?
When it shall now be open-faced and have laid aside its
veil; when his amiable siniles shall be chequered with
no intermingling frowns; the light of that pleasing
countenance be discerned by no intervening cloud;
when goodness, which is love issuing into benefaction
or doing good; grace, which adds freeness to good-
ness; mercy, which is grace towards the miserable,
shall conspire, in their distinct and variegated appear-
ances, to set off each other, and enhance the pleasure of
the admiring soul; when the wonted doubts shall cease,
and the difficulty vanish of reconciling fatherly severity
with love! When the full sense shall be unfolded to
"God

the life of that description of the divine nature,
is love," and the soul be no longer put to read the love
of God in his name, and shall not need to spell it by
letters and by syllables, but behold it in his very nature
itself, and see how intimately essential it is to the divine
being. Now is the proper season for the full exercise
and discovery of love. This day has been long expect-

it is now called forth, its senses bound, all its powers
inspirited on purpose for love, visions and enjoyments;
it is now to take its fill of loves.—HowE.

Christian Example.-How powerful is example! How blessed and beneficial is good example! If we speak of place, it extends from house to house, from village to village, from city to city, from nation to nation, and, by the grace of God, its blessings may cover the earth as the waters cover the channel of the sea; if we speak of time, it descends from age to age, from century to century, and by the divine blessing, theed, and lo! now it is dawned upon the awakening soul; lamp of wisdom may be handed down, and transmitted through successive eras till time shall be no longer. The light of an individual, of a family, of a community, fearing God and working righteousness, may shed a ray No Middle course in Religion.—Often do we hear reof blessedness on the ends of the earth, and on the most miss professors strive to choke all forward holiness by distant isles of the sea, and may shine on the last of the commending the golden mean. A cunning discourageLuman race! Oh! were we Christians in deed, and in ment; the devil's sophistry! The mean of virtue is betruth, our example, by a silent and powerful eloquence, tween two kinds, not between two degrees. It is a mean would convince and confirm others with regard to the grace that loves a mean degree of grace; yet this is the faith that is in Christ, and would turn many from dark- staff with which the world beats all that would be better ness to light, from sin unto holiness. The word of God than themselves. What! will you be singular,-walk would sound out from us, as it did from the Thessalo- alone? But were not the apostles singular in their walknians, and be heard in distant places; it would run ing, a spectacle to the world? Did not Christ call for this freely, and be glorified from the rising to the setting singularity, what do ye more than others? You that are sun. But if we are wicked and ungodly, cruel and re- God's peculiar people, will ye do no peculiar thing? vengeful, Sabbath-breakers and drunkards, fraudulent Ye that are separate from the world, will ye keep the and overreaching, having our hearts full of guile, and world's road? Must the name of a puritan dishearten our hands stained with the wages of iniquity and the us in the service of God? St. Paul said in his apology gains of oppression; in vain shall we compass sea and "by that which they call heresy, so worship I the God land to make proselytes to our faith; in vain shall we of my fathers;" and by that which profane ones call mingle the fervours of our zeal with the fire of a verti- puritanism, which is indeed zealous devotion, so let cal sun, or the frosts of a Polar sky. We might expectiny heart desire to serve Jesus Christ.-Old Puritan to hear from those whom we wished to convert, such language as this: "Who made thee a judge and a divider among us?" "Physician, cure thyself." Christian, "show me thy faith by thy works," "and then we may hearken more patiently to thy arguments."-WIGHT

ΜΑΝ.

The blessedness of the Saints above.-How pleasant will the contemplation be of the divine wisdom! when in that glass, that mirror of eternity, we shall have the lively view of all that truth, the knowledge whereof can be any way possible and grateful to our natures! And in His light, see light! When all those vast treasures of knowledge, (Col. ii. 3,) which, already, by their alliance to Christ, saints are interested in, shall be opened to us; when the tree of knowledge shall be without enclosure; when the pleasure of speculation shall be without the toil, and that maxim be eternally antiquated, "that increased knowledge increases sorrow;" when the records of eternity shall be exposed to view, and all the counsels and results of that profaned wisdom looked into, how will it transport! How grateful to behold

|

Writer.

the Sun of Righteousness, the refreshing showers of Prayer. Prayer draws down the warming beams of the Spirit of Grace, beneath whose genial influence all the spiritual graces, which God's own hand has planted, expand in their fullest bloom, and diffuse all around the sweetest fragrance. Prayer, with outstretched arms, fetches from the inexhaustible reservoir above, those rich supplies of the oil of divine grace; fed by which, the Christian lamp of faith will burn with a steady and increasing brightness, till, having guided the believer through the journey of life,—cheered, by its gladdening ray, the gloom of the chamber of death; and even darted a bright gleam of heavenly light deep down into that dark valley, through which he must pass to the city of his God, it will there be absorbed in the blaze of light that burns around the throne; for in that city there is no candle nor lamp required, yea, "there is no need of the sun or moon to enlighten it, for the Lamb is the light thereof, and our God its glory!"-WHITE,

SACRED POETRY.

THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.

THE Son of God is gone to war,

A kingly crown to gain;
His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in his train?

Who best can drink his cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain;

Who boldest bears his cross below,—
He follows in his train.
The martyr first whose eagle-eye
Could pierce beyond the grave;
Who saw his Master in the sky,

And called on Him to save.

Like Him, with pardon on his tongue,
In midst of mortal pain,

He pray'd for them that did the wrong:
Who follows in his train?

A glorious band, the chosen few,

On whom the Spirit came,

Twelve valiant Saints, the truth they knew,
And braved the cross and shame :
They met the tyrant's brandish'd steel,
The lion's gory mane;

They bow'd their necks the death to feel:
Who follows in their train?

A noble army, men and boys,

The matron and the maid,
Around their Saviour's throne rejoice,
In robes of light array'd.

They climb'd the dizzy steep of heaven,
Through peril, toil, and pain:

Oh! God, to us may grace be given,
To follow in their train.

WORLD IN THE HEART.

HEBER.

THE question is not, if our earthly race Was once enlightened by a flash of grace; If we sustained a place on Zion's Hill, And call'd him Lord,-but if we did his will. What if the stranger, sick and captive lie, Naked and hungry, and we pass them by ! Or do but some extorted pittance throw, To save our credit, not to ease their woe: Or strangers to the charity whence springs The liberal heart, devising liberal things; We, cumber'd ever with our own pursuits, To others leave the labour and its fruits; Pleading excuses for the crumb we save, For want of faith to cast it on the wave. -Shall we go forth with joy to meet our Lord, Enter his kingdom, reap the full reward?

-Can such his good, his faithful servants be? Bless'd of the Father ?-Read his Word and see. JANE TAYLOR.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Herman Francke. While the celebrated Francke was minister at Erfurt, he was zealously engaged in the dissemination of scriptural truth. As he was very frequently receiving copies of the Scriptures from Luneburg, his enemies circulated a report that he was distributing heretical books among the people. The magistrates issued an order that no such books should be brought into the city. Francke did not suppose that this edict was designed to oppose the circulation of the Scriptures, and therefore persevered in his holy labour. Direc-' tions were then given to stop every package directed to him. A parcel soon after arrived, and Francke was called before the magistrates, and asked how he dared

to disobey their orders. The officer, to convict him of guilt, opened the package; when, to his surprise and confusion, it was found to contain nothing but New Testaments! Francke was, of course, honourably dismissed. The effect of this affair was to make it known through the city that he had the Scriptures to dispose of, and to increase the demand for them a hundred-fold! A Nail in a sure Place.-I think, says Mr Arundell, the British chaplain at Smyrna, there is another part of this chapter (Isaiah xxii. 16.) the three last verses, that may be illustrated by a reference to ancient tombs. "I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and they shall hang upon him all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons, In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off for the Lord hath spoken it." If the sure place can be supposed to mean the sepulchre, or the treasury, and frequently, as in the sepulchres of the kings of Jerusalem, and the tombs of the kings of Pergamus, the sepulchres were converted into treasure houses, then the tombs in the island of Milo will be a happy illustration, within which I have myself seen nails fixed all round above the places where the bodies were deposited, and upon these nails were fixed "vessels of small quantity," vases of all forms and sizes.

The Earl of Rochester.-It is well known that this extraordinary man was, for many years of his life, an avowed infidel, and that a large portion of his time was spent in ridiculing the Bible. One of his biographers has described him as "a great wit, a great sinner, and a great penitent." Even this man was converted by the agency of the Holy Spirit in the use of his Word. Reading the fifty-third of Isaiah, he saw the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures, the Deity of the Messiah, and the value of his atonement as a rock on which sinners may build their hopes of salvation. On that atonement he rested, and died in the humble expecta tion of pardoning mercy and heavenly happiness.

A Word in Season. The late Rev. Mr Reader, of Taunton, having called one day, in the course of his pastoral visits, at the house of a friend, affectionately noticed a little girl in the room, about six years of age. Among other things, he asked her if she knew that she had a bad heart, and opening the Bible, pointed her to the passage where the Lord promises to give a new heart. He instructed her to plead this promise in prayer, and she would find the Almighty faithful to his promise. About seventeen years after, a lady came to him, to propose herself for communion with the church of which he was pastor, and how inexpressible was his delight, when he found that she was the very person with whom, when a child, he had so freely conversed on subjects of religion, and that the conversation was blessed to her conversion. Taking her Bible, she had retired, as he advised, pleaded the promise, wept, and prayed; and the Lord, in answer to her fervent petitions, gave her what she so earnestly desired,- -a new heart.

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THE

SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN

HERALD,

CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM.'

33

VOL. I. No. 17.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1836.

ON THE WISdom of goD, AS DISPLAYED IN
THE WORKS OF CREATION.

BY THE REV. DAVID WILLIAM Gordon,
Minister of Earlstoun.

THOUGH the principal design of the Word of God is to instruct us in the knowledge of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, yet it does not confine our attention to this glorious subject. It declares, that all the works of the Most High are great, and "will be sought out by such as take pleasure therein." And having told us, that "whoso is wise will observe these things," it not only presents to our serious consideration the amazing dispensations of providence, but directs us to the study of the divine attributes, as these are exhibited in external nature. It directs our thoughts to the fertile valley, to the lofty mountain, to the far resounding sea, to the moon as she sheds her silver light upon the earth, and to the sun pouring forth from his meridian height, the effulgence of summer day. It speaks of the God of salvation as counting the number of the stars, and calling them all by their names. It speaks of his saints as considering the heavens, the work of his fingers, the moon and the stars which he hath ordained. And it says to us all, "lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth forth their host by number, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power," not one faileth. On lifting up our eyes to the heavens, we behold an order, a harmony, an adaptation of means to ends, all demonstrating the most perfect wisdom. We see in the magnificence of a cloudless night, the planets preserved in their circles, and impelled in their course, performing at certain distances, and in certain periods, their appointed revolutions, without collision, without confusion, without one moment's suspension of their movements, and without the slightest deviation from their respective paths. And then, when "the sun cometh forth from his chamber, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race," then is made manifest the wisdom of God, in establishing this immense magazine of fire as the centre of attraction to the planets which move regularly round it, the source of light and of heat to them all, and undiminished in respect either of its influence

PRICE 14d.

or of its glory through a long succession of ages. To the earth which we inhabit, the sun is appointed to rule by day, and while the earth's diurnal motion round its own axis produces vicissitude of day and night, so necessary to the preservation both of animal and of vegetable existence, its annual motion round the sun produces the change of seasons, by which we are regularly favoured with the sweetness of spring, the glory of summer, and the riches with which autumn, in its turn, adorns and blesses the year. Were the earth brought nearer to the sun, every living being would perish through excess of heat; were it placed at a greater distance, the same consequence would follow through excess of cold; so that the precise situation in which it is placed may furnish every one by whom this is considered, with a proof no less of the wisdom than the goodness of the Creator.

But it is not the heavenly bodies alone, it is also in the air, the waters and the dry land, that we are called to contemplate the wisdom of God. Every one knows how essentially necessary is the element of air, to the existence of animal life. There are many, however, who have thought but little of its properties, and it might therefore be edifying for such persons to consider, in the words of a late philosopher, that "the air is so constructed as to support clouds for rain; to afford winds, for health and traffic; to be proper for the breath of animals by its spring, and for causing sound by its motion, and transmitting light by its transparency." Philosophers are unable to explain the cause of its motion, but to this, whatever be the more immediate cause, are to be ascribed, the refreshment afforded to lands which would otherwise be scorched with heat, the prevention or removal of pestilence in various parts of the world, together with the preparation made for sowing the seed in spring, and drying the corn in harvest. Some, on turning their eyes to the ocean, may be surprised at so great a part of the globe being occupied by what seems only a wide waste of water. But how different would be their thoughts of the spacious sea, did they reflect on the discoveries which men of science have made, since they would find, that were the proportion of water less than it is, the earth would be a parched up desert, unfit for the habitation of man.

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