MAY XXIV.

SPRING IS AN EMBLEM OF THE FRAILTY OF HUMAN LIFE, AND AN IMAGE OF DEATH.

AT this season, we need not go far to seek images of frailty and death: they present themselves on all sides, being connected with almost every beauty of nature. Undoubtedly, the Creator's design, in this respect, was to remind us of the uncertainty of the things of this world, and to repress the dangerous propensity we have to place our affections on objects so vain as all those in nature are. Spring is the season in which the plants receive a new life, and at the same time, that in which most of them perish. Serene as the days in spring are, they are often suddenly obscured by clouds, rain, and tempest. Sometimes the morn appears in all the lustre of its charms: then, before the sun rises to mid-day, its splendour, which had flattered us with the hope of fine weather, disappears. Sometimes, also, this hope is fulfilled, and the days of spring shine in full beauty. But how transient are those serene days! how swiftly they pass away! They vanish, even before we have well enjoyed them. It is thus that the best of our life flies away. Often, in the morning, every thing smiles upon us, every thing promises us joy and happiness; but, before evening, nay often before noon, we meet with vexations and shed tears of sorrow, Let us look back on those days of our youth, which we may call the spring of life. How short have been the pleasures of our youth! how great the variety of pleasures we enjoyed! But where are now those happy moments, those ravishing delights?

lights? What is become of that constant sprightliness, and those roses of youth, which were seen in our checks? We no longer have a taste for those turbulent pleasures which then intoxicated us. What now remains of those fine days that are past? Nothing but a melancholy remem brance of them, unless we have sanctified them, by devoting them to our Creator. With what force the spring points out to us the frailty and. end of life! Behold how far its charms extend! Behold the trees full of blossoms! But let us not too much exult in their rich ornaments : Shortly, they will return to that dust from whence they came. All that showy generation must die in the same spring which gave them birth. It is thus that our lives vanish. An unforeseen deatlı hurries us to our graves, whilst the health and strength we enjoyed promised us a long course of years. Sickness and death often come upon us so much the more unexpectedly, as their approach is concealed under an appearance of youth and health. Let every one behold an image of himself in the blossoms of spring, and there read his own uncertainty. Let us address them in this language : O! ye who are endowed with such charms! ye, the glory of the gardens, and ornaments of the valleys! how transient is your bloom! But what a picture! how instructive to me! That death which I carry in my bosom, I shall soon perhaps feel its stroke. Thou rose, thou livest but a day; and as for me, I may die in an instant.

Though these thoughts ought to render us serious, yet should we enjoy both the spring of nature, and the pleasures of life, as they are be stowed upon us by the Creator; but, at the same time, let us mix with these enjoyments, reflections:

C5

tions which arise from the nature of spring and life. The thought of death is very consistent with the enjoyment of every innocent pleasure. Far from infusing melancholy into our hearts, it should teach us to rejoice evermore in the Lord; it should guard us against making a bad use of earthly pleasures; it should inspire us with a desire of solid and uninterrupted happiness. The beauties of the visible world should give us an idea, what must be the infinite beauty of the invisible and heavenly world; and finally, when the time comes, in which our lives must wither and fade away as the grass of the field, then we may say, with Christian fortitude, Though my life, like a spring flower, wither and turn to dust; though these cheeks, wherein the roses of youth shine be a prey to corruption; I still hope for a better life, which I shall never loose; and the body, in which I shall then be clothed, will never decay.

MAY XXV.

SPRING IS AN EMBLEM OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

MOST of the flowers we admire were once coarse and shapless roots; but now they adorn the earth, and charm our sight. What a fine image this is of the resurrection of the righteous, and the state of their bodies re-animated! As the roots of the most lively flowers, while buried in the earth, are shapeless and without beauty, but when in bloom have a thousand charms, so is the human body: while in the grave, it is an object

of

of horror, but at the resurrection it will experience a most astonishing change: For, "what " is sown in corruption, is raised in incorruption; " what is sown in dishonour is raised in glory." As soon as spring takes place of winter, life and joy take place of the melancholy impressions which a severe season makes on the mind of man; and the first fine days make us forget the long winter and its darkness. Thus shall we forget, at the great day of the resurrection, all the sad and gloomy days of our past lives. The clouds of affliction in this world cast a gloom upon our countenances; but as soon as the light of a new creation dawns upon us, grief is no more; nothing more can disturb the serenity of our souls.

Spring is the general renewal of the whole. earth. However dull it was to us in winter, it is now no less pleasing and beautiful in its appearance. Every thing enchants and delights us; and we might almost fancy ourselves every spring transported to some new and cheerful habitation. It is thus, that, at the resurrection, we shall find ourselves transported into a new, magnificent, and charming dwelling. The new heaven, and the new earth, will be free from all the apparent or real defects of the globe which we now inhabit. Peace, order, beauty, and righteousness, will make our future abode the happiest that is possible to be conceived. When the warm rays of the sun have penetrated into the earth, millions of plants and different sorts of flowers spring out of its bosom. It will be the same in • that great day, when gencrations will rise out of the dust in which they were buried. As the spring flower rises from its seed to the height of bloom and beauty, so will our bodies, deposited in the grave, rise on that day in full glory, cloth

ed

ed with celestial beauty. Spring is the æra of vegetation for grass, flowers, and plants. It is then, that every thing, which has sprung up out of the earth, opens every day more and more, and grows visible. So will the day of resurrection be the æra of the unlimited progress which our immortal souls will make in all that is good. No weakness will there stop us in the road to perfection. We shall rise from virtue to virtue, from felicity to felicity. In spring, all nature, seems roused from sleep to praise its Author. The songs of all the inhabitants of the air unite; as if to glorify their Creator with an universal hymn. Similar songs of joy will be chaunted at the day of resurrection, by the elect of God restored to life. O! with what delight will our hearts be filled! We may judge of the greater by the less. If the earthly spring is so rich in enjoyments, what will be the beauty and treasures of spring in the new world?

MAY XXVI.

THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF BODIES..

WE often see two bodies draw near to one another, without being pushed together by an exterior force. The motion, which produces this effect, is called attraction or gravitation. This power of attraction proves to be one of the principal springs of nature. It is by means of this law, that fluid bodies rise up into the capillary vessels; and it is partly the cause of the circulation of the juices in plants, and even in animals. It is true, that the power of cxpansion in the air contributes