art.

we consider as trifles, be as well worth thinking or speaking of! Such researches are agreeable to a mind desirous of information, however small the object. Let us only lay aside prejudice, and the childish ideas we form to ourselves of the works of nature, and we shall think differently. We shall often find, that master-pieces are to be discovered where ignorance perceives nothing but trifles. For nature shews her wisdom even in her smallest works; and it is that which distinguishes them constantly from the productions of In reality, can an object be too trifling, if it furnishes us with a subject for useful reflection? For my part, I do not disdain to read on frozen glass, a truth which may have great influence upon my happiness. Behold the flowers that the frost has drawn upon that glass! They are varied with art and prettiness, yet a ray of the noon day sun effaces them. It is thus that fancy often paints every thing to us in the fairest light; but all that it represents to us most seducing, in the possession of worldly goods, are merely fine images, which disappear by the light of reason. The importance of this wise lesson is well worth the trouble of attending to the little phenomena which produced it.

JAN. XXIX.

The Use of Bread.

OF all the food which our beneficent Creator distributes to us with such profusion and variety, for the support of life, bread is, at the same time, the most common and the most wholesome. It is as necessary at the delicate table of a prince, as at that of a labourer; and the sick person is as much refreshed by it as an healthy one. It appears to be particularly designed for the food of

man; for the plant which produces it can be made to grow in every different climate; and it is difficult to find, on the habitable earth, a country where wheat will not ripen, if it is cultivated properly. A very evident proof that we cannot do without bread, is, that it is almost the only food we do not tire of, though we eat it every day. All those costly and dainty dishes, which pride and luxury invent, soon cease to please our palates, if we make too frequent use of them. Whereas we always eat bread with pleasure; and the old man, who has made it his daily food for seventy years, will still eat it with pleasure, when he may have lost his relish for all other food. We ought to look up to our Creator each day, as we eat our bread, and praise him for his blessings granted to us. Let us choose of all food that which we like best: is there any more natural, more generally wholesome, more strengthening, or nourishing, than bread? The smell of the most precious aromatics is not so refreshing. The former, indeed, flies more to the head, and is more heating; but the smell of bread, simple as it is, may serve to convince us that it contains parts essentially proper to form and repair the nervous fluid. What demonstrates its nutritive quality is, that it dissolves and becomes like paste, as soon as it is moistened with water, and is consequently easy for the stomach to digest. Let us here reflect on the visible care the Creator has shown of our health, in appointing us this food. Our best juices are liable to corrupt: it was therefore necessary to give us nourishment which could resist corruption. Now this quality is in bread. As it is composed of vegetables, and has something acid in it, it is an excellent preservative against putrefaction. Certainly, we should be unworthy the bread that daily feeds us, if we were insensible to it as a blessing from God. Ought we not to thank this Father, so good

and so merciful, who maketh the earth produce bread to nourish and to strengthen us? Should we, like brutes, enjoy our food without thinkinog of him to whom we owe it? No: Surely it is enough, that, during our infancy, we received our food without being able to lift up our hearts in gratitude. Lord! now, that I know the hand which supports me, I will for ever bless thee for it. How can I better prove my thankfulness than by sharing the bread, which I possess in abundance, with those who have but a small portion of it? How many of thy children, O Father! are less happy, though perhaps they de serve to be more so than me. They have scarce, bread enough, and are still less provided in other respects with means of subsistence. For my part, I have received all those advantages from thee; and I am ready to share them with my fellowcreatures, because they have the same right to thy favour.

JAN. XXX.

Our Duty in regard to Sleep.

A MELANCHOLY remark we have often occasion to mention is, that most people lie down to sleep with an inconceivable security. To consider it only as far as it relates to our bodies, the revo. lution produced by sleep, ought to appear to us. of great consequence; but, if we consider it in still another light, if we were to form to our selves all that might happen to us, while we are enjoying repose, it appears to me, that, in consequence, we could not, or ought not, to throw ourselves into the arms of sleep, without having taken proper, precautions, and having, in a cer. tain degree, prepared ourselves for it. In reality, it is not surprising that those, who, in their wak..

ing hours, are so inconsiderate, so negligent of every duty, should be equally so in that which relates to sleep. Let us, however, learn in what manner we may glorify God; and act as becomes the charcter of a Christian in this respect. What thanksgivings are due to the Creator for the blessings of sleep! Some may not know the full value of it, as it may never have been denied to their wishes, when they have desired it. But how soon would sickness, sorrow, fear, or old age, deprive them of the sweets of repose! O! it is then that they would acknowledge, that sleep is the most pressing want of nature; and, at the same time, an inestimable blessing of the Deity. But, should they wait, till they lose this blessing, to become wise? No: now, while they enjoy the advantages of sleep,--and that the beginning of each night makes them feel its salutary effects, never let them give themselves up to it without a lively sense of gratitude towards their heavenly bene. factor. Let this gratitude prevent them equally from making an abuse of sleep, or, by a contrary extreme, not making use of it. It is always wrong to prolong, through idleness, the hours designed for repose. Nature, in this respect, as in every thing else, is content with a little; and seven or eight hours of quiet uninterrupted sleep, is as much as is necessary. But we are not less blameable, when, through avarice, ambition, or any other motive of that sort, we lose our sleep and necessary rest. In both cases, we act contrary to the rules established by God, and contrary to the gratitude we owe him for such a blessing.

Above all things, let us endeavour to go to sleep with a proper turn of mind. What should we do, if we were to know for certainty, that, from the arms of sleep, we were to pass into those of death? Should we not employ our last moments in preparing ourselves for this passage, in

recollecting our past life, in seeking, through the blood of Christ, the remission of our sins? Well then, we may, every night, consider this case possible. In each winter's night, that is to say, in the space of twelve or fifteen hours, there die above fifty thousand people. Who can say whose name is not in the list of those which death will remove out of this world? Now, I leave it to the decision of every one's heart, what they would have done, if, in the midst of their sleep, they had been called upon to appear before the tribunal of Jesus. If, in the course of this night, God had disposed of them, would they have been prepared to appear before him? O God, to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hidden, what can we conceal from thee. We daily feel our weaknesses. Pardon our sins, we beseech thee, and enter not inte judgment with us for them.

JAN. XXXI.

Revolutions which are constantly in Nature.

ALL the vicissitudes of nature are derived from the invariable laws established by the Creator, when he drew the universe out of nothing. For five thousand years, there has been seen in the sky, and upon the earth, at certain marked pe riods, the return of the same variations and the same effects. The sun, moon, and stars, continue constantly the same course once prescribed to them. But who is it that supports, that directs them? Who teaches these bodies the course they ought to take? Who points out to them the time for their revolutions? Who impowers them to move always with the same force? Who prevents them from falling on our globe, or from losing their way in the immense space of the