the second, to exercise our sagacity and excite our attention of its works.

Many things in nature are only useful to us indirectly, or through a medium: for instance -many animals serve us as food, and, consequently, every thing which nourishes them is advantageous to us indirectly. We see that many animals live upon other animals; some birds live upon worms and insects, and there are others which live upon each other: and in this also the wisdom of God is manifest; for, if the fields and the productions of the earth were to furnish food to every animal, there would be no portion left for the support of man. I will not deny that there are many animals which appear to have been created for our annoyance, such, for instance, as venomous insects and reptiles: the poison of some of these creatures is so sudden and so violent in its effects that it is in vain to attempt to avert its fatal results; yet physicians prepare from the most virulent poisons medicines which are highly salutary to mankind: and that every creature, every plant, however noxious it may appear, possesses some latent good we may rest assured, since each is the work of an Omnipotent and benevolent Being. We may, in fact, come to this conclusion, that there is nothing really prejudicial to man, unless he himself render it so by an improper abuse of it.

But, if in creating our globe God had our happiness in view, are we not inexcusable if we traverse his salutary designs by placing obsta

cles to our own felicity, instead of using our utmost endeavours to promote it? God's dispensations are all merciful, but we render them ineffectual by our own improper conduct. Let us henceforth be wiser, and profit by those means with which the Almighty has furnished us so abundantly in the reign of nature; and, if our wishes cannot be wholly satisfied here below, let us have recourse to religion, which will amply compensate to us for those disappointments which, perhaps, appear to us as irreconcilable to the dispensations of a merciful God: above all, let us acknowledge and celebrate the wisdom of Providence, and admire the means which he deigns to employ to conduct us to eternal happiness.

JUNE 13.

THE LOADSTONE.

Of all the wonders of the mineral kingdom the loadstone is the most curious as to its properties: it is a ferruginous stone of a dark and generally gray tint, having the singular power of attracting iron; but this property is not, however, equally dispersed throughout the stone, but is chiefly confined to its two extremities, which are called the poles of the loadstone: when suspended by a thread these poles, if the stone be whirled round, always regain their original position, the one pointing north, the other south. This invariable direction of the loadstone, which admits but of slight variation or declination in some

parts of the earth, has induced the scientific part of the world to call the northern point the "boreal point," and that which points to the south the "austral point:" it communicates these two properties to iron when the latter is rubbed with it; hence we have the magnet, an instrument of the utmost importance to navigators. This sufficiently proves that those things which appear of but little importance upon a casual observation become by experience objects of the greatest interest; and, at the same time, it should convince us that an intimate knowledge of the works of nature is infinitely advantageous to the human understanding.

These virtues of the loadstone excited the curiosity of chemical men, and induced them to search diligently for the causes of these wonderful effects, and to discover new properties in it. They were more successful in the second instance than in the first: they remarked that sometimes it inclined a little to the east, sometimes to the west-that its attractive virtue was not interrupted by the intervention of other bodies of an opposite nature, such as wood, glass, &c.-that two of the same name fly from each other; the northern, on the contrary, will attract the southern, and the southern will attract the northern pole. Suppositions were also entertained that iron itself contained this attractive principle, and the following experiment proved the supposition well founded: a loadstone was suspended at one of the extremities of the beam of a pair of scales; to the other was attached a weight equal to that of the loadstone: when the loadstone was per

fectly still there was placed beneath it a piece of iron; the loadstone gradually descended till it touched the iron, raising the opposite weight at the same time. The same sort of effect would be produced if the iron were suspended and the loadstone placed beneath: the latter would bring down the former.

Wonderful and evident as these effects are, all the wisdom both of ancient and modern philosophers has in vain endeavoured to discover the magic cause which produces them: the loadstone still remains among the inexplicable mysteries of nature. If, therefore, the internal nature of visible objects is so concealed from our views, is it surprising that religion should possess secrets above our understanding, our comprehension-secrets which shall only be revealed in eternity? Yet, with this single but powerful lesson before them, there are beings so mad, so inconceivably presuming as to refuse their belief to any thing and every thing which they do not understand in religion. If this conclusion were just, we should be authorized to say "The loadstone does not attract iron; it does not point towards the north; every thing which is said of its properties must be false, because we cannot explain nor comprehend its nature."

The mysteries of religion cannot be seen with our outward eyes; the mind alone can be sensible of them, and that but imperfectly; but the time will come when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly. Wait patiently, then, O Christian! for that happy period when all

the secrets both of the natural and moral world shall be unfolded to thee. Remember that a great part of the happiness of futurity will consist in the increased perfection of our faculties, which will enable us fully to comprehend the extent of the glorious attributes of the Almighty.

JUNE 14.

CHERRIES.

THE agreeable sweetness of cherries, mingled with a certain degree of acidity, quenches our thirst, and purifies and tempers the circulation of the blood in the heats of summer: they quench our thirst, because their tartness contracts the saliva glands and refreshes and moistens the parched tongue and palate. This manner of appeasing our thirst is infinitely preferable to that procured by the use of liquids, which only increase the perspiration. Thus the acid, astringent, and refreshing juice of cherries tempers the blood when too much rarefied, and thickens the fluid parts of the body and prevents their corruption.

With what a bountiful hand has the Creator provided fruits suitable to the several seasons! How grateful are the cooling and juicy fruits of summer! and how abundantly has the Almighty supplied them, so that the poor as well as the rich may enjoy them! Let us make this pleasing reflection whenever we gaze upon a cherry tree in full bearing:-How sad would be the lot of the peasant, who earns his livelihood with