Earthquake. comparison of the whole world, or in comparison of that innumerable multitude of beings, which inhabit the creation? Be well assured, that every thing terrible and frightful in nature, all apparent evil, all the imperfections of the world, are necessary for the preservation of the whole, and for the manifestation of the glory of God. Great, and Almighty Being! I will bless and adore thy name, even when thou sendest thy scourges upon the earth, and spreadest terror and desolation over it. I will do more:-I will repose with full confidence on thy paternal care. Though the mountains should fall down and tumble into the sea, and the world be destroyed, thou wilt still be my support, my strength, and my high defence. Thou wilt ever be my aid and my protector, in all the evils which can possibly befal me. "Let me only possess a good conscience, and then I shall find nothing terrible in nature, though all should be shaken around me. Should the earth cleave under my feet, and the whole world crumble into dust, I will say, with confidence, God is my rock and my defence; his powerful hand shall always support me. FEBRUARY X. THE ESTABLISHED ORDER OF GOD RELATIVE TO THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MAN. GOD has observed the most exact, and most wonderful order, in regard to our Life and Death. So little do both depend upon blind chance, that on the contrary, they are regulated and measured in the wisest manner. If we establish our calculations on a certain number of years, it will be found, that a proportionable number of persons of every age, dies. Out of 35 or 36 living persons, there dies but one each year. On the other hand, more are born annually than die in the same proportion, so that if ten die, we may always reckon that twelve are born. Besides this, God has shewn his wisdom very particularly, relative to the different ages of those who die. In the first years, out of three or four infants, one ordinarily dies. In the fifth year, one out of 25; in the seventh, one out of 50; in the tenth, one out of 100; in the fourteenth and fifteenth, one out of 200. The twentieth year is nearly equal to the fifteenth. After the twenty-fifth year, the mortality becomes greater. Of persons at thirty, there dies one out of 60. At thirty-five, one out of 50, &c. How evidently does God manifest his wisdom and goodness, in sparing those most who are young; and in what admirable proportion does he remove them from the world! Among a thousand that die, there is every where a pretty equal number of persons at twenty, fifty, sixty, and eighty years of age. It is Life and Death of Man. granted, that the particular mode of life, vices, war, and epidemic disorders, may carry away more in some years than in others; but here also Divine Providence has taken care to put bounds to mortality in the subsequent years, so that the loss sustained may be abundantly repaired. Let us add to this, that each season of the year is not equally dangerous to men. Spring is most fatal; and the beautiful month of May, in which all nature seems to revive, is more mortal than April and March. But when the warmth increases, in the month of June, maladies sensibly decrease. Summer and autumn are more favourable to health than winter. Let us admire the providence of God, and his tender care of our Life. The days of all are marked in the book of the Most High, from the greatest potentate, to the meanest beggar, or infant at the breast. How tranquil ought we to be, seeing our birth, as well as our death, so exactly determined! And how easy should it be to us, to surmount the excessive fear of death! God has, doubtless, determined the bounds of our life, in such a way, as to be most advantageous to us. If we have the comfortable assurance, that we have found grace with God, through Christ Jesus, we may be certain, that we shall not be removed from this world, till we are ripe for eternity; and till God has advanced us to that degree of piety, which he has appointed for us. Deceived by selflove, we think, at the approach of death, that God treats us with excessive rigour, in calling us so soon out of this world; but let us rest assured, that how Life and Death of Man. ever premature our death may appear to be, it comes exactly at the time in which it is best for ourselves, and for other creatures. Finally, let us not imagine, that this wise order which God has established, relative to the Life and Death of man, authorises us to reckon with certainty, on a particular number of years. It is doubtless true, that fewer persons die in the fifteenth, than in the third year. But if in a place where the population is not great, five young persons die annually, who can answer for you, that you shall not be the first or the last of these five; or if you should pass the fifteenth; who can tell you that you shall not die in the following year? Should not this, on the contrary, stimulate you to accomplish the work appointed you during those years, when it is most probable you may live; seeing it is uncertain whether some of those, in which there is ordinarily a greater mortality, may not be fatal to you? Above all, be not so foolish as to flatter yourself with the expectation of a long life. Death makes his greatest ravages in those years, in which man is in his greatest strength, i. e. from his fortieth to his sixtyfifth year. And when we think we have made our wisest arrangements; when we have formed our most beautiful plans for a long and happy life; it is then, I say, that death comes and snatches us away, in the midst of our projects, and in the bloom of our hopes. How wise should we be, did we make a timely pre Reflections upon Ice. paration for that death, which may any day surprise us! God, in his wisdom, has so ordered it, that about thirty thousand persons die daily; and how easily may it happen, that some of us may be included in this number! How necessary is it, that we should think of death daily, and that we carefully prepare for it. Let this be our principal employment : let us make the necessary dispositions early, and be always ready! Then, let death come whenever it may please the Lord, we shall be found watching; and in our last moments be able to bless our great Redeemer. FEBRUARY XI. REFLECTIONS UPON ICE. WATER, when condensed by cold, loses insensibly its fluidity; changes in proportion to the increase of the cold, and becomes that solid body, which we term Ice. This change, which in the present season is daily wrought before our eyes, deserves to be particularly considered; at least, we should endeavour to learn the reasons of some of those phenomena, which appear in congealed water. Ice is a body lighter than water; for, if we put congealed water into a temperate heat, so that the ice may be detached from the sides of the vessel, it always swims at the top; and were it weightier than the water, it would necessarily sink to the bottom. What makes it lighter is, the increase of its size; for, al |