that the variations of temperature contribute materially to the growth and propagation of vegetables. In very warm climates there are immense deserts, that would be much more sterile if cold did not sometimes succeed to the burning heats. And winter, far from being prejudicial to the earth's fertility, promotes it. There are plants which thrive in the coldest countries, notwithstanding the ice and snow. Many trees, as firs, pines, junipers, cedars, the larch, and the box, flourish in winter as in other seasons. House-leek, pepperwort, sage, marjoram, thyme, lavender, and wormwood, with many similar plants, preserve their verdure during the winter. There are even some flowers that spring up under the snow. The single anemone, the hellebore, the winter hyacinth and narcissus, the snow-drop, and various species of mosses, flourish and are in flower during the cold. We are informed by botanists, that the plants of the frigid zone, being placed in green-houses, could not bear a higher degree of heat than thirty-eight degrees; whilst they can support so great a degree of cold as to grow, during the winter in Sweden, as well as most parts of France, Germany, and Russia, and the northern provinces of China. Vegetables which live in very cold climates cannot bear much heat, neither can those that grow on the tops of mountains. Rocks, and mountains capped with snow during the greatest part of the year, have yet plants peculiar to them. Many vegetables are found upon the rocks of Lapland, which are known also to grow on the Alps and the Pyrenees, on Mount Olympus, and the heights of Spitzbergen, but are nowhere else to be met with. When these are transplanted into gardens they grow to a considerable height, but bear very little fruit; and few of the plants which thrive in the northern countries will come to a state of perfection without snow.

Thus in the immense garden of nature there is no soil entirely barren, from the finest dust to the hardest rock; from the tropics to the frozen regions of the poles, there is no soil which does not produce plants peculiar to it; and no season is entirely destitute of these beautiful productions of nature, fruits or flowers continuing all the year round.

Grant, merciful Creator, that in this severe season thy children may not forget thy paternal regard, nor shut their eyes to the blessings which thou hast graciously condescended to bestow upon them; and permit, that, if thou art

pleased to favour them with a length of years, they may, in the fulness of their days, and the maturity of their wisdom, bring forth fruit worthy of thee, and beneficial to their fellow-creatures.

DECEMBER VII.

Exhortation to remember the Poor during the
Severity of the Winter.

You who now are sitting at your ease in comfortable apartments, cheered by the fire's genial warmth, whilst the north wind blasters round your dwellings, reflect upon those unfortunate children of poverty who are suffering the accumulated miseries of cold, penury, and disease. Happy is the condition of those who, in this rigorous season, have a house to shelter them, and clothes to keep them warm; who are refreshed by wholesome food, and recreated by the juice of the vine; who, reposing on downy pillows, enjoy sweet slumbers and pleasing dreams. But miserable is the lot of those to whom poverty denies a shelter; who have no home, no clothing to defend their shivering limbs from the rude blast; who are unable to make their necessities known, and have not a friend to cheer their drooping spirits or soothe their afflicted souls with the consoling language of hope.'

I wish to awaken in the hearts of my readers a sense of the miseries to which the lowest classes of society are subjected. I call upon them to regard those pitiable objects, whose necessities, too importunate to be neglected, oblige them to intrude themselves upon the notice of the rich. How many poor creatures are seen feebly crawling along the streets, their countenances so haggard by woe, hunger, and cold, as scarcely to give the semblance of human nature! Men venerable in years, with scarcely rags sufficient to cover them, obliged to expose their hoary heads to the severity of the passing storm, whilst they humbly solicit the casual charity of the passenger! Others, labouring under disease, destitute of sustenance and the commonest necessaries of life, stretched on some miserable pallet, in cellars or garrets, where damp, cold, dirt, and vermin, are their only companions, are lingering out their hapless moments in anguish and hopeless despair!

Winter, by increasing all the wants of the poor, renders our charity to them doubly necessary and indispensable. It is a time when nature herself is wild and destitute, and surely by distributing our benefactions seasonably we very much enhance their value. If we have been enriched by the fruits of summer and autumn, is it not that we may be enabled to share these blessings with our less fortunate brethren, whilst nature is in a state of repose? As the cold increases, so should we be more disposed to administer unto the necessitous, and pour into the bosom of the distressed and the needy a portion of the comforts arising from our superabundance; and the affluent ought particularly to be thankful to Divine Providence, for having it in their power to imitate his blessed nature, by relieving the necessities of the poor: and what nobler end can be answered by the unequal division of fortune, than that of the wealthy feeling for, and relieving the miseries of, their less favoured brethren?

Let those, then, who enjoy the gifts of fortune, compassionate the sufferings of the poor, and learn that it is their duty, and noblest privilege, to feed, to clothe, to warm, and to console the distressed; to dissipate their heart-corroding cares, and snatch them from the cold embrace of death. Let those who taste the sweets of independence, and revel in the pleasures of luxury, impart a portion of their superfluous abundance; and let those whose resources are less exuberant still give a part, remembering that there are few people who have any title to respectability of character, however limited their income, who have it not in their power to do some good. Let us, then, enjoy that delightful gratification which the noble heart ever feels, the Divine pleasure of relieving the wants of our brethren, of tempering to them the rigours of winter and the keenness of adversity. Who can deny himself the consolation of raising a fellow-being from the bed of sickness and the depths of misery, which he may often effect with ease, by retrenching some unnecessary ornament in dress, or curtailing himself of some pleasurable extravagance? And what more grateful incense can be offered up at the shrine of virtue, than beneficence exerted on behalf of suffering humanity, by a victory over our passions, or retrenching some expense în luxury or vanity, in order to apply it for the good of the poor?

DECEMBER VIII.

Nature is a School for the Heart.

THE study of nature, in every point of view, is profitable; and it may very properly be termed, a school for the heart, since it clearly teaches us the duties we owe to God, to ourselves, and to our neighbours.

Can any thing inspire us with a deeper veneration for the Supreme Being, than the consideration that it is he who not only has formed the globe of the earth out of nothing, but who has suspended it in the vast regions of space, with all the creatures which it contains; that it is his all-powerful hand that retains the sun in his orb, and the sea within its confines? and can we humble ourselves too much in the presence of a Being who has created all those numberless worlds which revolve around us? What diminutive creatures are we, compared with those immense globes! and how little does the earth and all its glory appear, when considered under this point of view! And do we not shudder at the very thought of offending that God whose boundless power is every where manifested, and who in an instant can wither all our boasted strength, and render nought our most brilliant enterprises?

The contemplation of nature is particularly conducive to inspire in us the emotions of love and of gratitude for its Divine Author. All nature loudly proclaims the consoling truth, that God is love. It was love that induced him to manifest his glory by the creation of the world, and communicating to other beings a portion of that felicity which he himself enjoys. For this purpose he created the universe, and an innumerable multitude of creatures, that all, from the first link to the last, from the archangel down to the lowest reptile that crawls in the dust, should experience each according to its nature and capacity, the effects of Divine goodness. Is there a single creature existing throughout the vast regions of created nature which does not afford proofs of this heavenly truth? Man more especially displays its certainty and Divine operation, inasmuch as the Creator has not only endowed him with reason, more eminently to enjoy the blessings he receives, but also to enable him to feel and acknowledge that love which is the source

of all the favours he enjoys. The Creator has given him dominion over all animals, to convert them to his use and conveniences; and for him he has made the earth produce her fruits in abundance. And ought the many blessings which we daily receive, and without the continuance of which our existence must cease; ought not the disinterested love of that great Being, who can derive nothing from his creatures, and whose felicity is perfect, to affect our hearts in the tenderest manner, call forth all our gratitude, and engage us with irresistible energy to return the love of our beneficent Creator? The contemplation of the universe, and the perfections of God so clearly manifested, should naturally increase our confidence in his power and mercy, And how great ought our tranquillity to be, knowing that we are superintended and directed by a Being, the proofs of whose wisdom, power, and goodness, we have continually before us in every part of the creation! What, then, in the hour of trial, of difficulty, and of danger, shall discourage us from offering up our prayers to him who has stretched out the heavens, and formed all living creatures?

Is it possible that base and selfish principles can actuate the heart of a man, who, in contemplating nature, every where discovers traces of the infinite beneficence of God, who does not propose less the felicity of every individual than the universal good of the whole creation? No one can, for a moment, reflect upon the ways of Providence, without being sensibly touched by his goodness and tender cares for every living creature; and the heart which is not incited to imitate this universal benevolence, must be depraved and callous to a degree that makes us shrink with horror at the thought of its ever existing in a human breast. Does not God make his sun to rise on the evil, as on the good, and send his rain on the just, as on the unjust? Let us, then, learn charity on that extensive and liberal scale, which knows no bounds but those which the Omnipotent has set to the human capacity. If we desire to imitate our heavenly Father, we must endeavour to raise in our bosoms a spark of that celestial love whose cheering warmth diffuses its comforts wherever we go; and the more we impart of it to others, the brighter is its radiance, ever inextinguishable.

VOL. II.