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appear sensible, and animals which seem deprived of sensation. Nothing proves this better than the discoveries made in coral. Formerly it was supposed that corals were sea plants, but now there are strong reasons for placing them among animals; for, what was then taken for a flower, has proved to be really an animal. Thus every order of creatures rises insensibly to perfection, by numberless degrees. The more observations are made, the more reason is there to be convinced, that it is impossible to fix the exact limits of the three kingdoms, the mineral, the vegetable, and animal; and that amongst most creatures there is more conformity than dissimilarity. It is at least certain, that the limits which divide the most perfect creatures, from those that are a degree less so, become at last imperceptible to understandings so limited as ours. These observa

tions ought to convince us that the world, with all the creatures it contains, is the work of an infinite Being. So much harmony and such differences, so much variety with so much uniformity, can only proceed from the almighty, omniscient, and perfect Being, who created the universe and all that is in it. Let our hearts rise towards him. Let us go from the stone to the plant, from the plant to the brute, from the brute to man, and from man to the heavenly spirits; then take our flight towards the everlasting, incommensurable Being, the Creator of the world, the Preserver of plants, the Protector of animals, the Father of mankind, the King of spirits.Measure, if possible, measure his greatness, and try to sound the depths of his wisdom. Thrice holy God! created beings are too weak to know thy works. They are immense; and to tell them all, would be to be infinite like thee. Therefore,

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fore, the less capable we are of conceiving how far the wisdom of God extends, the more we ought to reflect on his greatness! and, above all, to imitate his goodness as much as is in our power. We see that no creature is deprived of the merciful care of the Lord. It is extended to the stone and the plant, as well as to men and animals. In his sight (in some respects) there is no distinction: his mercy is over all his works. Let us, in this also, endeavour to imitate our Maker. We fill, it is true, a distinguished rank among created beings; but let us take care not to be cruel or tyrannical towards creatures who appear to be inferior to us. Let us rather endeavour to enjoy, with gratitude and moderation, all those designed by God for our use.

*ར.•ར་ར་ར�ཅེ

MARCH XIV.

THE UNIFORMITY AND VARIETY IN THE WORKS OF NATURE.

THE sky over our heads, and the earth under our feet, remain always the same, from age to age; and yet they afford us, now and then, spectacles as varied as they are magnificent. Sometimes the sky is covered with clouds, sometimes serene, sometimes blue, and sometimes of different colours. The darkness of night, and the light of noon day, the dazzling light of the sun, and the paler light of the moon, succeed each other regularly. The immeasurable space of the heavens appears sometimes a desert, and sometimes strewed with an infinite number of stars. To how many changes and revolutions also is our earth subject?

subject? For some months uniform, and without ornaments, the severity of the winter robbed it of its beauty; the spring renews its youth; summer will shew it still more rich and beautiful; and, in some months after, autumn will pour upon us every sort of fruit. What variety also on our globe between one country and another! Here a flat level country presents us plains beyond the limits of sight; there high mountains rise crowned with forests; at their feet fertile valleys are watered with brooks and rivers. Here gulphs and precipices; there still lakes; and, farther off, impetuous torrents. On every side is seen a variety which pleases the eye, and opens the heart to sensations of pure and sweet delight. This same assemblage of uniformity and variety is found in all the vegetables on our globe. They take from their common mother all the same nature, and the same food: they have all the same manner of springing up and growing: yet, what a prodigious difference between a blade of grass and an oak! All together are ranged under certain classes. Those of the same species are indeed very like one another; and yet what differences we see in them? It is the same in respect to animals. The wisdom of the Creator has divided them also into classes; and whatever variety there is in them, they still preserve essential resemblances. There is even a certain degree of conformity between man and the lowest class of animals. However superior man may be to animals in many respects, has he not, in common with them, and even with plants, the same means of food? Is it not the sun, the air, the earth, and water, which provides it for them all alike? The plants grow, ripen, fade, and die; and those laws of nature extend to animals, and

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even to mankind. If we next examine the variety of the human species, what an astonishing assemblage of conformity and diversity? Human nature, in all times, and among all people, is ever the same; and yet we find, that, of this innumerable multitude of men spread over the earth, each individual has a form peculiar to himself, particular talents and countenance, which, to a certain degree, serve to distinguish him from any other. It seems as if the wisdom of the Creator chose to vary, in the highest degree, all his works, as far as was compatible with the essential construction peculiar to each species. All the creatures on our globe are divided into three classes, minerals, vegetables, and animals. These classes divide into kinds; the kinds into numberless sorts of individuals. From thence it is, that there is no creature on earth alone, or without resemblance to its own species. There is no species which has not some connection with others, or a general affinity with the rest of the world. From this assemblage of uniformity and diversity (which is of infinite extent) derive the order and beauty of the universe:-- The difference between the countries of our globe proves the wisdom of the Most High, who chose that each being should have its certain place, and has. so fixed their destination, that it would be impossible to change the connection or distinction he has made between them. Even the minutest works of nature, such as only can be seen through a microscope, discover such union and variety together, as must necessarily raise our souls to the contemplation of the infinite wisdom of the Creator.

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ALL vegetables spring from seeds; but the greater number of these are not sown, and are even invisible to us. It is nature that disperses them. With this view, she has furnished some seeds with a sort of light down, or little feathers,, which serve as wings for the wind to carry them away, and spread them every where. Other seeds are small and heavy enough to fall perpendicularly on the earth, and to sink of themselves into it. Others, of a larger or lighter sort, which might be carried away by the wind, have one or more little hooks, to catch, and prevent them from going too far from their place. There are some inclosed in elastic cases, which (as soon as they are touched, or acquire a certain degree either of dryness or moisture) are driven or cast to more convenient distances. And what is still more admirable, is, that nature seems to have given to some birds the care of planting trees. They sow the nuts, which afterwards shoot and grow. Ravens have.

been thus seen to plant oaks: and this is their method: They make a hole with their bill, and dropan acorn into it, which they afterwards cover with earth and moss. It must not be supposed they do all this with an intention to plant trees. It is instinct alone which prompts them. They bury the acorn for their food.. It shoots, and becomes an oak. Many seeds, by their agreeable taste and smell, invite the birds to swallow them; and thus transport them here and there, and render them fruitful by the heat of their bowels. After having kept them some time on their stomachs, they let H 6 them

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