The rolling worlds,-those sparkling orbs,
Such boundless pow'r man's skill absorbs;
Bewilder'd thus in ign'rance stands,
With wonders of Thy potent hands.

He, Lord of all those roving spheres,
Remains the same through countless years;
His wisdom 's vast and unconfined,
No mortal thought can mete His mind.

This great "I am," who rules the skies,
Bestows our thoughts-He framed our eyes,
To meditate His sage designs--
To read His works in fairer lines.

Although so high, so kind, and good,
He has declared Himself our God;
And promised, too, to condescend
"To be our Father and our Friend."

His omnipresent eye discerns
The craving lusts of our concerns,
And reads our minds where'er we roam,
By night, by day, abroad, at home.

Subverts our pride, and draws us near
To Christ-helps us that name revere;
Guides our feet in heaven's highway,
Which leads to everlasting day.

There we in golden streets can roam,
Have God our Friend, fair heaven our home;
Sweet balmy trees and streamlets there;
No scenes like these on earth compare.

Thrice happy saints, who there reside
Where flowrets grow and streamlets glide!
My soul aspires to reach that shore;
Their bliss be mine for evermore!

Horwich.

J. H.

CHE matter or substance of which this world we inhabit is composed, is known to us under three different forms, sometimes called the solid, the liquid, and the aeriform, or gaseous; more commonly, earth, water, and air. These are arranged in layers, one above the other, according to their different densities, or closeness of parts. The earth, which is the heaviest, lies the lowest; upon that rests the water, and upon both, enveloping them like a garment, floats the transparent fluid we call air. Each of these three is indispensable to the existence of the natural

NO. LV.-VOL. V.

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world, as a place of abode for the human race; but it is of water especially that we wish to speak, water, which occupies the intermediate place between earth and air.

It often happens, that we think little of those things which are constantly present with us. They are so common, that we do not recognise their value; we are apt to pay much more attention to some trifling object which is new to us. Yet it is precisely these things for which we forget to be thankful, (because they are given in such abundance,) that are of priceless value; upon them our very existence depends. One of the greatest of these blessings is water. It has so many uses, and is present with us in such an endless variety of forms, that we shall get no definite or clear idea of its operations without we take some one in particular, and examine that.

Large collections of water are called rivers, lakes, seas, oceans. From the different operations of these, some idea may be formed of the enormous power possessed by large bodies of water acting as one mass. We read of storms at sea, where the huge billows toss and tumble, and the waves rise up like green hills on each side, while the ships sometimes sink into the valley between them, and the next moment are lifted on their crests, as if they were no heavier than a child's toy. Sometimes, alas, the noble vessel, with its freight of rich merchandise, and its crew of living men, is driven too near the shore, and

then the huge wave dashes it upon the rocks, again and again, till nothing is left but the splintered fragments of what was once the grandest thing of man's handiwork.

We may also see pictures of waterfalls, where the stream rushes down over some high rock, in a sheet of foam; or of mighty cataracts, like Niagara, which is formed by an immense body of water falling down a height of 165 feet with a noise so tremendous as to be heard for miles round. But descriptions and pictures, though they are most useful means of information, can never impress us so much as any thing does that we see with our own eyes, and hear with our own ears. Must we then travel to America, or take a long sea voyage, with its risk of storm and shipwreck, before we can rightly estimate these grand workings of nature? Perhaps it is not in our power to do so; perhaps we may never be able to travel far beyond some town or city, where our home and our duty lies, yet even there we may learn more, by closely observing the facts which are within our reach, than we should by travelling to distant countries without having our minds prepared to profit by what we might see in them.

All nature is the work of one Divine Hand, and its laws act in the same way in small things as in great ones; therefore, by taking notice of little things, we are enabled to learn what would be the result if a similar action took place on a much larger scale; with the proportions of every

object immensely increased. Just as we sometimes see a little model made, in card or plaster, of some great edifice or church; where, though the tiny columns may only be a few inches in height, and the doors and windows hardly large enough for a mouse to enter, yet we are enabled, if the just proportion is observed, to form a tolerably correct idea of how the true building would appear.

There can be few who have not seen a considerable body of water, either on the sea-shore, or in a river, or fountain; and surely no one who has not witnessed many times a heavy fall of rain. Even in this country there are times when the rain comes down, for a short time at least, in torrents, as in a thunder shower; and then how quickly it accumulates in every little pool, and streams down the sloping banks, carrying earth and stones before it, and how soon it overflows its accustomed boundaries. Instead of running along in ditches, it stretches across the road, becoming thick and yellow with mud, and, if it cannot escape quickly, it grows deeper and deeper, till perhaps the whole field or garden is under water. In places that are well drained, this overflow passes away when the shower ceases, and then how desolate everything looks, grass and flowers torn up by the force of the stream, and heaps of mud and sand left on the garden beds.

Now let us remember that this is a miniature