forehead, has been made, and has had its place assigned, by the same infinite Jehovah. Both are equally the property of God, and each, in its own allotted place, is equally well suited for the ends for which it was intended. Both, therefore, are under the care of God, and each will be so ordered and guided, as to promote His eternal designs. That view of God's providence, which, affecting to place Him above the contemplation or the care of His creatures, however small or insignificant they may appear to us, divests Him of the glory attending the daily preservation of so many minute wonders, can only be adopted by one whose ideas of value are formed on the gross supposition, that bulk constitutes importance, and whose intellect is incapable of grasping the fact, that, to the mind of God, whatever we can perceive of the vast and magnificent in creation, is but, after all, a point, requiring for its maintenance no greater trouble or care at His hands, than the little fly, which dances in the sunbeam, or the inanimate clod, which we tread beneath our feet.

From this doctrine may be deduced a sufficiently obvious, and no less important lesson-a lesson of faith and dependance on that God, by whom all things are arranged and governed. If even the tiniest insect is thus under His care, how much reason have we to feel satisfied that He will care for us. Such was the instruction deduced by our blessed Lord, from the same subject:-" 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 ye not much better than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

The providential care manifested toward us by our Creator, is shown not only in the greater and more im

portant events, but in every circumstance by which our lot is varied, however minute, or however trivial ;—in the casual meeting of a friend, which seems to lead to nothing, as well as in the circumstances immediately connected with our birth, our conversion, our marriage, or our death. This will be the more readily granted, when it is perceived, that the distinction between trifling and important events cannot be accurately made by us, and that those which would generally be classed among the former, are very frequently the fruitful parents of the most momentous occurrences.

We need not go far for an illustration of this subject. It is a point, for example, in undisputed history, that Mahomet, when pursued by his enemies, ere his religion had gained a footing in the world, took refuge in a certain cave. To the mouth of this retreat his pursuers traced him; but, when they were on the very point of entering, their attention was arrested by a little bird, starting from an adjoining thicket. This circumstance, the most trifling that can well be conceived, convinced them, that here the fugitive could not be concealed, and led them to direct their search in some other quarter. Meantime, the impostor effected his escape, gained the protection of his friends, and, by the most artful course of conduct, succeeded in laying the foundation of a religion, which now prevails over a large portion of the world, and numbers among its votaries the inhabitants of lands, neither insignificant in the map of the world, nor unimportant in their political relations. Thus to the flight of a sparrow may be traced the establishment of a delusion, whose moral influence has been deeply felt in the world, for more than one millenium already, and probably will continue to exert a baneful effect on the character of many a people, till the very eve of that blessed period, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ.

If an occurrence such as this has been so fruitful of events, to what circumstance shall we venture to give

the name of trifling? Does not the history of every one of us bear record how strong is the influence of the very smallest and most unheeded of the occurrences by which it has been marked? Has not the falling of a leaf, or the waving of a branch moved by the gentle breath of heaven, suggested a thought, or led to a resolution fraught with important consequences to our future lives? And who can tell the thousand thousand links, minute and unremembered, which have every one been necessary, in its own place, to bring about the end which has at length occurred, the strange coincidences, the apparently accidental events, the meetings, the surprises, the conversations, the reflections, the very moods of minds which have entered into the composition of the final act, and which, had any one of them been different, even though that one had been the least noticed among the preparatory steps, must have led to a different result.

And, then, as to the importance of the chief events in the life of the humblest citizen, who can tell what an influence these may indirectly exercise over the happiness of his neighbourhood, or the fate of his country, or the destiny of the world? Had Hampden's spirit never been excited by the injustice of his rulers, who can tell what form of tyranny might now have been swaying the sceptre of our native land? and had Britain, at that era, slept on in her chains, instead of shaking off the yoke of her oppressors, who can say whether any nation in the world would at this moment have been free?

Thus constant, thus minute, is the providential care of God. As He is wise, let us trust Him for the ultimate adjustment of whatever appears to our short-sighted vision, either distorted or unworthy of His character. As He is good, let us entertain the confidence, that they who serve Him in the gospel of His dear Son, shall be brought through all the vicissitudes of their earthly history, safe to the eternal mansions at last, and that, dark as the experience of His saints may be, He will cause all things to work together for their real good. G. J. C. D.

TENTH WEEK-MONDAY.

II. ON THE INHABITANTS OF THE POLAR REGIONS.-FOOD AND CLOTHING.

WE have seen, that the inhabitants of the Polar Regions, shut up, though they be, amid the icy lakes and mountains of the Frozen Zone, and suffering, even during the summer months, under a state of the atmosphere more rigorous than that which generally accompanies a British winter, have not been neglected by their kind and bountiful Creator. The vegetable world, it is true, affords them but few of its productions, either to please the palate, or to gratify the appetite; but, along their barren hills, and within their ice-bound seas and rivers, an ample supply of food exists, to satisfy the daily returning necessities of this peculiar people.

It is generally admitted by physiologists, that the activity of the human body, in the generation of internal heat, though dependant, in a great degree, on the original constitution, is powerfully affected by the quality, as well as the quantity, of the food consumed. It would moreover appear, that, to excite the heating powers of the living principle in man, there is nothing found by experience so valuable as an oily diet. In temperate regions, this fact is recognised by medical men, in cases of protracted rheumatism, in which the regular use of the oil extracted from the liver of the cod, is found highly beneficial in bracing the system to resist the effects of external cold, and enabling it, by an increased action, to banish the gnawing pains of that distressing complaint. Any one can tell how much, on exposure to the cold of a winter day in our own climate, hunger increases the chilly sensations of the body, and how much comfort a sufficiency of animal food is calculated to afford. A meagre diet is adapted only to the heat of a warm season, suiting well with the relaxed state of the body un

der an equinoctial sun, or the parching heats of summer; but affording no defence against the bitter effects of a severe frost. I believe it has been frequently remarked, by persons familiar with the Polar Seas, that sailors, of a full habit of body, a sanguine temperament, and a florid complexion, if in good health, are the least affected by the feeling of severe cold; and these are just the men most generally addicted to eating considerable portions of animal food. A thin and bilious person, on the other hand, who eats sparingly, and loathes a large proportion of fat or oily substances, finds it painful to be long exposed to the chilling influence of a northern sky. How remarkable an example of Divine Providence, then, does it appear, that, in those very regions where the internal heat of the body needs most to be excited, an inexhaustible supply exists, of the very description of food best suited to the purpose; and that, where the warmth of a summer sun never summons from the chilled and benumbed earth, a vegetable provision for the calls of the human appetite, there should be found—what is far better-the oils and the fat with which the Arctic province of the animal kingdom so peculiarly abounds; and that with this abundance there should also co-exist a relish, on the part of the inhabitants, for substances, the mere odour of which, in the chamber where they are to be partaken of, is sufficient to expel with disgust a native of this country, or, if he cannot make his escape very speedily, to affect him with nausea or fainting. The incredible quantity of this description of food, often rancid as it is, which an Esquimaux is capable of devouring at a meal, has excited the astonishment of all Europeans by whom it has been witnessed. Twenty pounds of salmon, for instance, is stated as no uncommon quantity to be devoured by an individual at a single meal. This excess, indeed, is followed, among them as well as in more civilized nations, with its own punishment; but there can be no doubt, that the cold of these regions is materially deprived of its painful effects on the human frame