Winter affords recreation for the understanding, as well as for the senses. If we are less abroad, we have more intercourse within. If rural pleasures are diminished, social ones are increased.

"O winter

"I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st
"And dreadful as thou art !—”

Compensating his loss with added hours
"Of social converse, and instructive ease,
"And gathʼring at short notice, in one group
"The family dispers'd, and fixing thought
"Not less dispersed by day-light and its cares-
"I crown thee king of intimate delights,
"Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
"And all the comforts that the lowly roof
"Of undisturbed retirement, and the hours
“Of long uninterrupted evening know.”

Yes there are amusements to be found, without having recourse to noisy, public dissipations, in which health, innocency and peace, are frequently sacrificed; where vicious passions are cherished, and persons are rendered incapable of relishing genuine pleasure—

"Cards were superfluous here, with all the tricks
"That idleness has yet contrived

"To fill the void of an unfurnished brain,

To palliate dullness, and give time a shove."

"Discourse ensues, not trivial, yet not dull,
"Nor such as with a frown forbids the play
"Of fancy, or proscribes the sound of mirth:
"Nor do we madly, like an impious world
"Who deem religion phrenzy, and the God
"That made them an intruder on their joys,
"Start at his awful name, or deem his praise
“A jarring note.-—”

Thirdly, winter is a season in which we should peculiarly feel gratitude, for our residence, accommodations, and conveniences. Things strike us more forcibly by comparison. Let us remember how much more temperate our climate is than that of many other countries. .K 2

VOL. II.

Our winter is nothing, when we turn to the frigid zone. Think of those who live within the polar circle; dispersed; exposed to beasts of prey; their poor huts furnishing only a miserable refuge; where linger months of perpetual night and frost; and by the abscence of heat, almost absolute barrenness reigns around

When the French mathematicians wintered at Tornea in Lapland, the external air, suddenly admitted into their rooms, seizing the moisture, became whirls of snow; their breasts were rent when they breathed it; and the contact of it with their bodies was intolerable. We read of seven thousand Swedes who perished at once, in attempting to pass the mountains which divide Norway from Sweden.

And while our winter reigns here with great comparative mildness; how many blessings distinguish our portion from that of others around us, and demand our praise? We have a house to defend us. We have clothes to cover us. We have fire to warm us. We have beds to comfort us. We have provisions to nour ish us. What shall we render? "Bless. the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

66

Fourthly, this season calls upon us to exercise benevolence. Sympathy is now more powerfully excited than at any other period; we are enabled more easily to enter into the feelings of others less favored than ourselves. And while we are enjoying every conveniency and comfort which the tenderness of Providence can af ford-O let us think of the indigent and miserable.Let us think of those whose poor hovels, and shattered panes cannot screen them from the piercing cold. Let us think of those whose tattered garments scarcely.co-** ver their shivering flesh. Let us think of the starving poor, who after a struggle which to relinquish, give up their small pittance of bread, to get a little fuel to warm their frozen limbs. Let us think of the old and “ the infirm; of the sick and the diseased. When evening draws on let us reflect upon the scene so exquisitely touched by the pencil of sensibility.

"Poor, yet industrious, modest, quiet, neat,
"Such claim compassion in a night like this,
"And have a friend in every feeling heart.
"Warm'd while it lasts, by labor all day long
"They brave the season, and yet find at eve,
"Ill clad and fed but sparely, time to cool.
"The frugal house-wife trembles when she lights
"Her scanty stock of brush-wood blazing clear,
"But dying soon, like all terrestrial joys,
"The few small embers left she nurses well;
"And while her infant race, with outspread hands
"And crowded knees, sit cow'ring o'er the sparks,
"Retires, content to quake, so they be warmed."

Olet "the blessing of them that are ready to perish "come upon us. Who would not "labor that he may "have to give to him that needeth." Who would not deny himself superfluities, and-something more-that his bounty may visit "the fatherless and the widows in "their affliction."

Ah! ye unfeeling, ye worldly-minded, that "stretch "yourselves upon your couches-that chant to the "sound of the viol-that drink wine in bowls, and "anoint yourselves with the chief ointments, but are "not grieved for the affliction of Joseph !" O ye who can repair to every avenue of dissipation, and trample on so much distress, and shut your ears against so many groans in your way thither on what do you found your title to humanity ?-Thy judgment is to come. Or do you lay claim to religion? Merciless wretch, can knowledge or orthodoxy save thee ?-"Whoso hath "this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, "and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him; "how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little "children, let us not love in word; neither in tongue; "but in deed and in truth. If a brother or sister be "naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say "unto them, depart in peace: be ye warmed and filled; "notwithstanding ye give them not those thing which "are needful to the body; what doth it profit? even "so, faith if it hath not works is dead, being alone." To conclude, winter should improve us in knowledge.

It affords leisure, and excludes many interruptions it is therefore favorable to application. Let us read, and study, and prepare for action and usefulness in life.

And let us not pass heedlessly by these subjects of reflection and improvement, which the very season itself yields. How instructive, for instance, is the goodness of God, not only in the preservation of the human race, but in taking care of all the millions of animals during a period which threatens to destroy them? What a number of retreats does he provide for them? Some of them by a singular instinct change the places of their residence. Some of them are lulled into a profound sleep for weeks and months. Some live on the fat they have filled themselves with during the summer. Some carry their provisions before-hand, and lay them up in their cells. “God takes care for oxen; and "hears the young ravens that cry."

And all this teaches us, first, to resemble him, and be kind to every being. If we learn of him, we cannot be cruel to the brute creation. We cannot be indifferent to their shelter and nourishment when we remember, that his mercies are over all his works.". -Secondly, to trust him. He who provides for animals, will not abandon children. "Behold the fowls of the air for "they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are .66 ye not much better than they ?"

:

Here

The season is also instructive as an emblem. is the picture of life-thy flowry spring, thy summer strength, thy sober autumn, are all hastening into winter. Decay and death will soon-very soon lay all waste. What provision hast thou made for the evil day? Hast thou been laying up treasure in heaven? Hast thou been laboring for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life?

Every thing decays except holiness. This therefore is the true character of man; and this shews us that he was designed for a religious state, rather than any other.

Pursue this then as "the one thing needful; and choose "that good part that shall not be taken away from you."

Soon spring will dawn again upon us in its beauty and its songs. And "we according to his promise look "for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth "righteousness." No winter there-but we shall flourish in perpetual spring, in endless youth, in everlasting life.

"Then let our songs abound,

"And every tear be dry;

"We're marching through Immanuel's ground,
"To fairer worlds on high."