made for the same purposes that the sun is ; each to bestow light, heat, and vegetation, on a certain number of inhabited planets, kept by gravitation within the sphere of its activity.

II. What an august, what an amazing conception, if hu man imagination can conceive it, does this give of the works of the Creator! Thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied without end, and ranged all around us, at im mense distances from each other, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmonious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent beings, formed for endless progression in per. fection and felicity.

If so much power, wisdom, goodness and magnificence are displayed in the material creation, how great, how wise, how good must He be, who made and governs the whole! FERGUSON.

IF human understanding apprehends any thing accord. ing to truth and right, the benevolent character is the proper object of the love of every rational mind, as the contrary is the natural object of aversion. If every human, or other finite mind, is more or less amiable, according as it has more or less of this excellent disposition; it is evident, that Infinite Goodness is infinitely amiable. Who is he that pretends to think and reason, and has no pleasure in contemplating the Divine Goodness? Who can reflect upon such goodness, and not admire it? Who can admire it, and not endeavour to imitate it? Who can imitate it, and not be a universal blessing? Who can be a universal blessing, and not be happy? Who can be happy, and not bear some resemblance to the Author of blessedness? Who can bear any resemblance to the Author of blessedness, and not be animated to press forward to perfection?

BURGH.

THE true sense, then, of the divine authority of the books of the Old Testament (and which perhaps is enough to denominate them in general divinely inspired) seems to be this; that as in those times God has all along (beside the inspection, or superintendency of his general providence) interfered, upon particular occasions, by giving express commissions to some persons (thence called prophets) to declare his will in various manners, and degrees of evidence, as best suited the occasion, time and nature of the subject, and in all other cases, left them wholly to themselves: In like manner, he has interposed his more immediate assistance, (and notified it to them, as they did to the world) in the recording of these revelations, so far as that was necessary, amidst the common (but hence termed sacred) history of those times; and mixed with various other occurrences, in which the historian's own natural qualifications were sufficient to enable him to relate things, with all the accuracy they required.. Bishop Law,

THE WORKS OF NATURE INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

THERE is indeed none of the works of nature, down to the most common and contemptible (if any thing could be so called, which Infinite Wisdom has deigned to make) that is not found, when attentively examined, to be, for curiosity of structure, above the apprehension of any hu. man mind. What is meaner or more common than a pile of grass? Yet whoever with a microscope examines its various parts, will in it find a work of such curiosity, as to deserve his highest admiration. In the blade, he will find a double coat throughout, between which, the vessels, that convey the juices to nourish it, are disposed. The minuteness of those tubes decreases to imperceptiblity.

II. Nor do the same vessels carry and return the juices. There are in every plant (and consequently in every pile of grass) two kinds of vessels, analogous to the veins and arteries in an animal body, by means of which a circulation

of the juices is performed. The blade is also furnished with excretory vessels, to carry off by perspiration whatever juices may be taken into the plant, which may be superfluous, or unfit for its nourishment; and with absorbent vessels, at whose orifices nourishment is taken in from the ambient air, as well as from the earth by the root. The blade is always furnished with a strong, fibrous substance, running up its middle, and tapering to a point, for supporting and strengthening it. BURGH.

IT happened at Athens, during a publick representation of some play exhibited in honour of the commonwealth, that an old gentleman came too late for a place suitable to his age and quality.

Many of the young gentlemen who observed the difficulty and confusion he was in, made signs to him, that they would accommodate him if he came where they sat: the good old man bustled through the crowd accordingly; but when he came to the seats to which he was invited, the jest was to sit close and expose him, as he stood, out of countenance to the whole audience.

II. The frolick went all round the Athenian benches. But on those occasions, there were also particular places assigned for foreigners; when the good man skulked towards the boxes appointed for the Lacedemonians, that honest people, more virtuous than polite, rose up, to a man, and, with the greatest respect, received him among them. The Athenians, being suddenly touched with a sense of the Spartan virtue, and their own degeneracy, gave a thunder of applause; and the old man exclaimed, The Athenians understand what is good, but the Lacede monians practise it." SPECTATOR.

LESSON CIII.

INTEMPERANCE.

DRUNKENNESS makes a man unfit for gooddrowns and infatuates the senses-depraves the reasonbesots the understanding--causes errors in judgment

i

to go without any; and has been stark naked ever since hence she is called the naked Truth.

SPECTATOR.

THE first fault in delivery is, when the voice is to loud; this is always disagreeable to hearers of good taste; who look upon it to be the effect either of ignorance or affectation.

Besides an overstrained voice is very inconvenient to the speaker, as well as disgusting to judicious hearers. It exhausts his spirits to no purpose; and takes from him the proper management and modulation of his voice, according to the sense of his subject: And, what is worst of all, naturally leads him into a tone.

Every man's voice, indeed should fill the place where he speaks; but if it exceed its natural key, it will be neither sweet, soft, nor agreeable; because he will not be able to give every word its proper and distinguishing sound. BUCHANAN.

THE second fault in delivery is, when the voice is too low. This is not so inconvenient to the speaker, but it is as disagreeable as the other extreme. It is always disgusting to an audience to observe any thing in the reader or speaker that looks like indolence or inattention.

To manage the voice properly, these two extremes should be avoided. And perhaps the best rule for this purpose is, carefully to preserve the key of the voice, and at the same time to adapt the elevation and strength of it to the condition and numbers of the persons you speak to, and the nature of the place you speak in.

It would be as ridiculous in a general, when haranguing an army, to speak in a low, languid voice, as in a person who reads a chapter in a family, to speak in a loud and BUCHANAN. eager one.

THE third fault in delivery is, a thick, hasty, clutter. ing voice. This is often owing to a defect in the organs of speech, or a too great flutter of the animal spirits, but oftener to a bad habit uncorrected.

The great disadvantage which attends a too precipitate pronunciation, in reading or speaking, is, that the hearers lose the benefit of half the good things they hear, who would fain remember, but cannot : Therefore, a speaker should always have a regard to the memory, as well as to the understanding of his hearers.

II. A quick manner of reading may do well enough in examining leases, perusing indentures, or reciting acts of the legislature, where there is always a great redundancy of words; or in reading a newspaper, where there is but little matter that deserves our attention: But it is improper in reading books of instruction, devotion, and especially the sacred scriptures, where the solemnity of the subject, or the weight of the sense, demands a particular regard.

Every publick speaker should beware of monotony, or a dull, uniform tone of voice, which not being attended either by cadence or emphasis, is also a great disadvan tage to an audience, by depriving them of reaping any benefit from the most interesting parts of the subject, which should always be distinguished or pointed out by the pronunciation: For a just pronunciation is a good com mentary. BUCHANAN

LESSON CX.

THE greatest and most common fault of all is, reading with a tone. No habit is more easy to be contracted than this, or more hard to be conquered.

This unnatural tone in reading or speaking is various ; but whatever it be, it is always disgusting to persons of delicacy and judgment.

Some affect an awful and striking tone, attended with solemn grimace, as if they would move you with every word, whether the weight of the subject bear them out or not This is what persons of a gloomy, melancholy cast of mind are most apt to give into.

Again, some have a canting or singing note; and others