depending, as that intercourse mainly does, on the influence, direct and indirect, of varieties of climate on the surface of the earth, serves to show a wise and beneficent intention in so unequal a distribution of temperature, and brings us back to the conclusion, that whatever partial inconveniences may accompany such arrangement, these are vastly counterbalanced by the advantages of which it is productive. If it be true, as it undoubtedly is, that much of the activity, ingenuity, and intelligence, which exist in the world, had their first development in the circumstances attending the differences in question; and if the very wants and privations of a less genial climate have eventually, not merely, improved the intellectual character of men, but bound them together by new and intimate ties, from the equator to the vicinity of the poles, how can we avoid the inference, that such extensive and important results were contemplated and provided for by the Divine Mind, in establishing the relations between the natural and moral worlds?

SECOND WEEK-SATURDAY.

ADAPTATION OF ORGANIZED EXISTENCES TO SEASONS AND

CLIMATES.

THE adaptation of plants and animals to the changes of the seasons, which, taken even in the broad and general view, is so clear an indication of an intelligent Designing Cause, is no where more conspicuous than in the season of winter. Were but a strong and continuous blast of the breath of winter to pass over our forests, fields, and gardens, in any of those months when vegetation is in its glory, and when animated nature luxuriates in universal plenty, the effect would be most disastrous. All organized existences would feel the fatal shock. Leaves, and fruits, and flowers, would shrink, wither, and decay; insects on the wing would fall life

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less to the earth; the various species of caterpillars would drop stiff and dying from the frozen vegetables on which they fed; even the larger animals would be stricken with the general blight; birds and beasts, if they did not instantly perish, would droop and shiver; and man himself, adapted as his constitution is to sustain the rigours of all climates, would find himself invaded by deadly diseases. Nor would the evil end here. Not only would individuals die, but whole species would become extinct. The seeds, and eggs, and larvæ, which propagate the various races of plants and insects, would be unproduced. The progress of reproduction would be arrested at its source; and, were the untimely blast to be universal, various links would be broken for ever in the chain of existence.

This consideration brings us, at once, to a clear perception of the kind of adaptation to which I allude. It is evident that some peculiar provision has been made, in temperate climates, for the preservation of organized existences during winter. In that season they are not in the same condition as in other seasons of the year. It is not merely that the change from heat to cold has been gradual. It is true that the hurtful effects of a violent alteration of temperature are thus avoided; and this is something which ought not to be overlooked in the wise provisions of the Author of Nature. But much more than this was necessary; and, as we shall afterwards have ample means of observing, has actually been effected. It was requisite, for the preservation both of plants and animals, that, during winter, their habits and functions should be altered, or even suspended, and that peculiar contrivances should be resorted to for protecting them from the rigours of the season.

But there is another consideration which must not be overlooked. Not only are their peculiar provisions for preserving animal and vegetable life, in our temperate climates, during the cold of winter, but the whole classes of organized beings which exist in any climate, are

adapted to all the ordinary changes of their peculiar locality; so that the fact I have mentioned, is only a single instance of a principle of adaptation which runs through the whole system. The tropical plants, for example, are peculiarly formed, for the express purpose of living and flourishing under vertical suns, long droughts, and periodical rains; the vegetable productions of the polar regions, on the other hand, have been remarkably contrived for resisting the chilly influences occasioned by the long absence of the sun, and for starting suddenly into life, and running their short but rapid race, during the few weeks which comprise their spring, summer, and autumn. And so it is also with our temperate climates. It is not in winter, alone, that an adaptation to the season is conspicuous, but throughout every month of the year. Every parallel of latitude has it peculiarities of weather,-its longer or shorter duration of mildness and of rigour,-of rain and of drought,-of light and of darkness; and to all these varieties, the plants indigenous to the soil are adapted.

But, what is more, under the very same parallel, there are localities which differ materially from the general average of the climate, on account of the elevation of mountain ranges, or other accidental circumstances. Here, again, we find very striking indications of the provident care we have noticed. By whatever mysterious means the distribution has been made, there we find productions suited to the situation. Some extraordinary instances of this have been noticed on the Himalaya mountains, on the Andes, on the Peak of Teneriffe, and, indeed, in all the quarters of the globe where lofty mountain ranges are to be found. Humboldt has shown that there is upon the earth a geographical distribution of plants, according to its various climates, which he distinguishes into so many zones of vegetation, from the pole to the equator. In the Island of Teneriffe, he observed that its various heights, which, as in all mountains are colder as the elevation increases, exhibited differences of

plants, corresponding with the temperature; and he divided the various heights into five zones, each clearly marked by their respective vegetations. It has been a matter of curious investigation among philosophers, by what means the earth was at first supplied with productions suited to its respective climates and peculiarities; and it has been ingeniously attempted to be shown, that a single mountain, of sufficient elevation, placed in a favourable situation, and furnished, by the Creative Power, with the various vegetable productions which its different altitudes and consequent varieties of temperature required, might suffice, in the course of ages, for the dissemination of these productions over the whole face of the globe, according as its various localities might be adapted to. receive them. Such an inquiry, however, is more curious than useful. It is enough for us to perceive the designing hand of a wise Creator in the adaptation of the vegetable creation to the very diversified circumstances of soil and climate, as it is found actually to exist in the different countries and regions of the world.

I shall only add, at present, that what has just been said of the vegetable, is equally applicable to the animal kingdom, as will be seen when we enter into the particulars to which these preliminary remarks refer.

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THIRD WEEK-SUNDAY.

THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

THE doctrine of an Eternal Self-existent Being, involves in its very idea, that He is every where present throughout His immeasurable creation, and that, if there be any region of infinite space where He has not exerted His creative power, He is there also; and this doctrine receives a more distinct and definite character, from the discoveries of astronomy. The idea of infinity, indeed, is too vast to be fully comprehended, as any one will be forced to confess who makes the attempt. We can conceive an immense extent, but it is an extent circumscribed by some boundary, however distant; and, if we only attend to what passes in our own minds, when we endeavour to extend our conceptions so as to arrive at the idea of infinite space, we shall find that we do this by figuring to ourselves, first, one immense extent, and then, beyond that, another, and another still, in a constant and indefinite series. This shows the limited nature of our mental powers, which cannot form conceptions, but by the aid of things that are the object of the senses; and it serves at the same time, to exhibit the importance of astronomical studies, in assisting the mind to form a more exalted view of the Divine attributes. Even though deprived of the discoveries of astronomy, indeed, we could still speak of infinity; but our conceptions of that divine attribute would necessarily be far less vivid and definite. It is by the help of this most interesting and astonishing science, that we raise our comprehension from the contracted bounds of our own planet, to the vast extent of the planetary system with which we are connected, and thence to the amazing distances of the fixed stars, and thence again to those little spaces in the heavens called nebulæ, full of thousands and tens of thousands of worlds, in new systems,