hours of night, and rises in the morning weary and unrefreshed.

But these are not the most reprehensible means of passing the days and nights of winter, How ingenious is man in multiplying the means for abridging his time by vain amusements! Sometimes he quits the city for the plains: there he pursues the timid hare, the fearful deer; exultingly he watches their decreasing strength, while shouts of applause announce the death of the panting victim. The hills and rocks give back in echoes this wild uproar; while nature, affrighted from her sweet repose, appears as if hurrying again to a state of chaos.

Sometimes the midnight ball invites the giddy youth, where frequently he loses his innocence, peace of mind, and bodily health. Plays and spectacles of every description enchant him; and these excite his passions, and render him incapable of enjoying true pleasures. Thus does he pass from one worldly pursuit to another, all of which unite in corrupting his heart, and frequently reduce him to the greatest misery.

Perhaps I have sufficiently detailed the pleasures of a man of the world during the winter season: let me now be permitted to hint to my fellow creatures the duties they have to fulfil even in the choice of their amusements. I do not mean to condemn the pleasures of society; on the contrary, they are at this time of the year particularly necessary; but enjoy them moderately, lest they become ruling passions, and take full possession of your souls. Even allowing that no vicious propensities, nothing repulsive

to good manners should be permitted in the society you frequent, yet, if its pleasures occupy too much of your time-if they constrain you to neglect the duties of your calling-if they affect the interior economy of your houses, they are to be condemned, and should be immediately relinquished. Pleasure was never intended to constitute the business of our lives, but the relaxations: if we pursue it with too much ardour, we are in danger of neglecting the first end of our being, and of laying up food for regrets and remorse even in this life. Let us, therefore, be careful in our choice of winter amusements. Let us not pursue those which may be pernicious in their results, as to our reputation, our virtue, or the good of our families. Let us avoid those degrading and lawless pursuits which wound our neighbour, or excite his complaints and tears. Surely these can produce no real pleasure, since they alienate our hearts from the performance of those duties which religion and our duty impose. The most innocent pleasures, if indulged to excess, may prove fatal in their effects, by rendering us insensible to the more pure and solid enjoyments of Christianity.

Oh my God! grant that I may so pass through things temporal as not to lose those which are eternal. Let the conviction of thy presence shield me from temptation. May I always be more anxious in the performance of my duty as a Christian, as a father, and as a citizen, than eager in the search of those pleasures which excite in me the love of evil. How is it that I feel so anxious for frivolous amuse

ments at this season of the year? Are not the works of God before me? Shine not the heavens with equal-nay, with stronger brilliancy than in the more genial seasons? Do not those fields, those woods, those mountains, covered with the dazzling snow, impart a thrilling pleasure to my soul? Are not these, and a thousand other phenomena peculiar to this season, capable of exciting the delicious feelings of gratitude and awe? Winter, sublime and awful winter presents to the pious mind, when clothed in stormy clouds-driven by the piercing winds, ample. proofs of the power and majesty of the universal God of nature.

JANUARY 6.

PROVIDENTIAL CARE OF THE ALMIGHTY FOR ANIMALS DURING THE WINTER.

MILLIONS of rational beings, dispersed in different parts of the world, are provided at this season with every thing necessary for their preservation: the more numerous that mankind are, the more are their wants varied, according to their condition, their age, and their manner of living. But man is capable of forming plans for his support; yet their completion and success depend upon the blessing of Providence. sows the seed, but it is God gives the increase. It would be, however, selfish to suppose that the interference of the Almighty for the preservation of his works was wholly confined to the human race: it is extended to creatures much more numerous upon the earth than rational be

Man

ings. However great may be the care of Providence over mankind, we shall find, upon examination, that his wisdom and power are not less displayed in his superintendance of the brute creation.

That the prodigious number of animals which inhabit our globe should, during the temperate season of the year, find food and shelter is not at all surprising, because all nature concurs in producing this great effect: but that, in the winter, this same number of creatures-these millions of quadrupeds, of reptiles, of birds, of insects, and of fishes, should continue to exist is a circumstance which should excite the astonishment of every one capable of reflection. Nature has ordained that some animals should be provided with a covering which shields them from the cold, and has also enabled them to procure their food as well in winter as in sumThe bodies of wild animals, which inhabit forests and deserts, are covered with a hair, which falls in the summer and grows again towards winter, becoming a warm and thick clothing of fur. Other species of animals, when the cold obliges them to quit their summer habitation, find an asylum under the bark of trees, in old buildings, in the crevices of rocks, and the caverns of mountains: in these retreats they deposit a store of winter provisions, or there exist without food, supported by the nutriment they have received in the preceding summer; while others, again, pass the cold wintry months in a profound sleep. Many birds instinctively quit our northern shores for

mer.

the more genial climes of the south; but those parts of the irrational creation which are stationary still find the means of satisfying their wants. Birds know where to discover certain insects, either in moss or the barks of trees; some quadrupeds find their food beneath snow and ice; many kinds of birds, insects, and fishes, shut up in fens and marshes, and frozen rivers, are totally deprived of food during the winter, and yet they live. But we are ignorant in many instances, and so we must continue, of the ways of Providence with regard to the preservation of animals.

Adore, then, with me, O Christian! our allpowerful, all-merciful preserver. However great his majesty, he disdains not to protect the meanest creature which exists under heaven; and even where nature appears under the most barren forms, he can supply her deficiencies. Let this conviction fortify your trust in God. 0 ye of little faith! why are ye thus a prey to anxiety and care?-why do you despair of the protecting love of the Almighty, because the season is inclement? Shall that God, who has so amply provided for the animal world, shall he abandon the noblest part of his creation?Shall he, who has shown himself so powerful in little objects, appear deficient in greater things? The God who clothes the beasts of the field shall provide you with raiment; the God who points out to them the rocks and caverns, as places of retreat, shall find an asylum for you, where you may peaceably pass your days. That God who has prepared their food,