all in infinite Wisdom, Compassion, and Love. I mention this, as it is now so much the fashion to say "Nature did this;" but if you again refer to the beautiful thirty-eighth chapter of Job, it is manifest that all creation is always under the most minute government and direction of Him that made it,—“Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Hath the rain a father; or who hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen." (Job xxxviii. 25-30.) Yet even now if a drought prevails, or a flood increases, or the pestilence rages,* God is acknowledged and prayed to as the immediate governor of the universe; but the best and happiest state is, to wait on Him in the calm, continually-and when the tempest arises, we shall find Him ever nigh. (Ps. cxix. 114.) The next blessing connected with the atmosphere, which I will direct you to, is its power of refraction. Though the atmosphere may extend in an exceeding rarefied state more than forty-five or fifty miles in height, yet it does not appear to refract the rays of light beyond that; but within that distance, through the influence of the atmosphere, the rays of the sun come to us in a bent or arched line, and thus, excepting when the heavenly bodies are in the Zenith, that is, immediately over our heads, they always appear to us some degrees more elevated than they really are,—so that, long after the sun has set, we continue to see it. And this is true of all the heavenly bodies; thus, at the time of full moon, we see the sun after it is gone, and the moon before it rises. Another important property of the atmosphere, is its power of reflecting light. We watched the setting sun the other *Surely the Lord acknowledged the cry of England, in 1830, and turned back the cholera in answer to that cry, for his mercy endureth for ever. MOTION OF THE AIR. 37 evening; the light of day seemed to linger on the earth long after the sun was gone, while colours of every hue glowed in the western sky, seeming to promise that the sun should rise again. "But how was the light prolonged?" you may inquire. The beautiful arch of refraction had kept the sun with us long after the orb itself was sunk; and now, when ITS DIRECT RAYS could no longer reach our eyes, but passed far above our heads, we viewed them reflected as from a glass. And what language can describe that gentle, quiet light, the eventide? so sacred to meditation, (Gen. xxiv. 63,) which an eastern writer beautifully calls "The curtain of night gently drawn around the closing day." Another most gracious property of the atmosphere is its motion, "the wind." The principle on which this is regulated is very simple;—when, from a variety of causes, any portion of the atmosphere gets heated, it becomes rarefied, or expanded, and immediately ascends till it meets with air of the same weight as itself; but instantly when this process begins, the air around hastens to fill the vacancy. If the previous process had been gentle, the wind is gentle; but if rapid, the wind is high and stormy; sometimes the light breeze, at another time the terrific hurricane.* but for it, disease and Have we not found, in The phenomena of the wind, or the atmosphere in a state of movement or agitation, come to man fraught with blessing; for the storm and tempest have beneficial results. It is the great conservator or preserver of health: death would gather on every side. climbing the sultry hills, when we reached the heights, the balmy air came to us all sweet and refreshing, adapted exactly to our wants, by the hand of that ever watchful Being who is *It has been ascertained from observation that the wind travels at the following rates per hour :-light air, four and a quarter miles; fresh breezes, fourteen miles; half gale of wind, thirty-six miles; a gale, sixty-two miles; a hurricane, eighty-eight miles; a hurricane carrying all before it, one hundred and twenty miles. Winds may be divided into three classes:-first, trade winds,— these always blow one way, and blow within the tropics, and a few degrees beyond it; second, monsoons-these blow half the year N. E., and half N. W.; third, variable winds,-liable to daily change. as kind as He is powerful? How often have I at Jamaica looked longingly to the sea, watching the sea-breeze come rippling and sparkling in the sunbeam, till at last it reached our vessel. It was a delightful sight to see our flag, (just like the one your dear grandmamma made for you,) that had been hanging down as if partaking in the general sultriness, on a sudden stream out almost instinct with the joy of all around. And at night, when the sea-breeze had died away, and all was calm and still, the air, cooling from the fervent rays of the sun which had "shone the live-long day," now came hasting down the mountains, as the land messenger, vieing in refreshment with that from the sea; but though cooler, yet was not so invigorating. The cause of the land and sea-breeze is simply the rarefying and condensing of the atmosphere. In the morning, after the sun had risen to some height, the whole air around begins to feel its power, and soon expands or rarefies; and (as I before remarked on the causes of the wind) the neighbouring sea-air rushes in to fill the vacancy: and at night, when the heat has passed away, the air that had ascended, again condenses, and comes down to us cooler than even the seabreeze. But one must dwell, dear children, in tropical countries to know the value of these mercies. But not only is the wind so valuable to us, as the preserver of health; but it is also the principal means of all our communications with other countries. Let us look again at your map of the world. See how the water exceeds the extent of the land.* Look at the various ports and harbours and rivers, as if the Lord intended the sea as the great highway by which the nations of the earth should have intercourse. Imagine that you could in an instant of time see all the ships that are at this moment on the ocean, all with their respective colours, how full of interest would the sight be. There you would see * The surface of the globe contains about one hundred and ninety-six millions of square miles, one hundred and forty-seven millions being water, and forty-nine millions land. Only about one-quarter of the earth's surface is land-the remaining three-quarters are water. THE VOYAGE OF LIFE. 39 the stars of America, the union of England, the eagles of Russia and Prussia, the tri-coloured flags of France and Holland, some sailing this way, some that; some for pleasure, and notwithstanding the gospel of peace, many just now for war. All, however, intent on one thing,—to reach the port to which they are bound: for everything in a vessel's voyage bears on this. If you could hail each vessel, and ask them this question," Where are you bound?" not one of the many thou- ✓ sands would say, "I don't know." No; they are in earnest. Alas! how many hundreds of thousands are sailing on the ocean of life, surrounded with danger, and yet, if you ask them whither they are going, they would be constrained to say, "I don't know;" for without a pilot, without a compass, without a rudder, they are driven on by fierce winds; and, if the Lord interfere not, ere long they must inevitably make shipwreck of their souls. But reflect, my dear children, on the scene we have imagined; and with the exception of those few steam-packets, (few in comparison,) which seem to pass on regardless of the winds, the commerce of the world is kept up by by the unaided agency of the wind. I say unaided agency; for though the sailor spreads his canvass "low and aloft," yet he is altogether dependent: the wind bloweth where it listeth; and only as he is obedient to its dictates he prospers. At one time you see him, in the midst of storm and tempest, ploughing his way through seas that seemed to threaten his destruction; and at another time, in the light and gentle airs of summer, his vessel, like the bird, seems to ruffle her plumage* with delight, extending her utmost sails to catch every straggling zephyr. I have sometimes been struck with wonder at the thought of a vessel leaving the Thames, or other port, and going the circuit of the globe, and coming back to her first anchoring, and not * Looking on a beautiful vessel, with every sail spread, almost seeming instinct with life, hastening on at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, one can hardly wonder at the poor Esquimaux thinking that Captain Ross's ships were some large birds about to light on their coasts. one finger of man put out to impel her. The wind has done it entirely-MAN has simply acted as ITS servant. Beautiful is the language of the poet Cowper, when speaking of the ship that bore some missionaries to India : "Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd, Cowper's Poems :-CHARITY, line 201.* * How graciously was prayer answered as it regards that most interesting of all interesting voyages, when the good ship Duff, with devout Capt. Wilson, and a crew, many of whom loved the Lord, and thirty missionaries, left Great Britain for the islands of the Pacific, thousands praying for her. We traced her voyage on our map a few days since with the utmost interest. How beautiful were the remarks of the good old Dr. Haweis, when, in his thanksgiving sermon, he mentioned to the congregation the safe return of the ship Duff:-"To traverse more than twice the circumference of the globe, especially amidst the lurking shoals, hidden rocks, and low islands of the Southern Ocean, must, it is well known, be full of danger. They felt it, and sometimes were at their wits' end, going up to heaven, and sinking down into the depth, shook by the pealing thunder, embayed without a passage, and once suspended on a dreadful reef. I read and trembled; but 'he that dwelleth under the defence of the Most High shall be safe under the shadow of the Almighty.' I was ashamed, humbled, comforted; and I exulted, when, in the midst of the most awful scenes, I heard one of the brethren say, 'We took the wings of faith, and fled in prayer to the God of our mercies; and when we had sung an hymn, presently the storm abated, and we lay down comfortably and fell asleep.' Ah, so he giveth his beloved sleep.' In the whole of this long voyage, not a life was lost, not a limb was broke, not a mast sprung, not a sail split, not an anchor lost, but goodness and mercy followed her the whole voyage." And how beautiful on the great sea was the course of this ship that published peace, and proclaimed salvation to the islands of the South! I just add the course of the Duff, that those young friends who have not the valuable book from which I gathered it (Rev. Mr. Griffin's Life of Captain Wilson) may have the same pleasure as we had:"Sept. 23d, 1796, left Portsmouth; Oct. 6th, passed Madeira; Oct. 14th, anchored at the Cape de Verds; Nov. 12th, reached Rio Janeiro; sailed down the coast of Spanish America to lat. 30° S., long. 50° W., then bore away across the Atlantic towards the Cape of Good Hope; Jan. 30th, 1797, passed New Zealand; March 6th, anchored at Otaheite; May 26th, sailed to the |