temperature, shall travel deep into the bosom of the vast continents of the earth, over tracks whose radiating power, their natural heat, and the heat they receive from the sun, are infinitely varied? What shall barter heat and cold, with a mutual advantage, between the sultry regions of the equator and the ice-bound pole, and moisture between the ocean and the desertbetween the tepid marshes of the tropics and the arid steppes which stretch their vast expanse around the frigid zone?

That the scheme of the infinite wisdom of Him in whose "hand are all the corners of the earth" (Ps. xcv. 4,) may complete itself before the mind, it asks, how shall this equalising power of heat, and cold, and moisture, climb the high mountains of the earth, penetrate its deep valleys, enter the hidden recesses of the forest, minister to every shooting bud and leaf a subdued influence, and temper itself to the feeble life of every tender plant and gentle flower? The answer meets us at once-In the atmosphere. "HE bringeth forth the winds out of his treasures" (Jer. x. 13).

As the hills and valleys of the bottom of the ocean are covered by its waters, so is the whole surface of the earth-land and ocean, mountain and valleycovered by the fluid air.

"The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
Transparent, elemental air, diffus'd

In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great round."-Par. Lost, book vii. 263.

We exist at the bottom of that vast continuous sea; we are born into it; and when we cease to drink of it at every inspiration, we cease to live.

This ocean of the air possesses properties, in respect to the equalisation of heat, which include all those of the ocean of waters, but are of greater activity. Its elasticity renders it far more expansive from any increase of temperature than water is, and therefore far more buoyant.

For this reason, when heated, it becomes more readily displaced by the surrounding colder and heavier air, and powerful CURRENTS are thus established in the fluid atmosphere, by variations of temperature which would scarcely cause them to be perceived in the fluid ocean. It is incorporated with these currents of the air that excessive heat is borne up and carried away high above the earth's surface with a prevailing tendency towards the frigid zones, and cold made to creep along in contact with it towards the region of perpetual heat.

Thus are the great astronomical varieties of temperature intermingled and blended by the atmosphere, nevertheless with an infinity of modifications, subject to an infinite variety of local causes, and suited to the boundless diversity of the scheme of God's creative providence.

To this blending and equalising effect of the atmosphere, the equal temperature of the ocean largely contributes.

Seven-tenths of the atmosphere perpetually covers the ocean, and thus partakes in that uniformity of temperature, in respect to the seasons, which peculiarly belongs to the sea.

Besides a more ready formation of currents, the elasticity of the air gives it yet another property, tending eminently to the equalisation of temperature, and, in fact, necessary to the equalising power of the wind.

The earth's surface may be considered as the bottom of the ocean of the air. The higher, therefore, is any portion of the atmosphere above the earth's surface, the less is its depth beneath the surface of this ocean, and the less, therefore, is the pressure upon it of the air which is above it; and being elastic and less pressed, the air is there less condensed, or more rare.

Thus, then, it appears that as we ascend higher, we of necessity find the air rarer or lighter; a fact which

is at once verified if a barometer be carried to any elevated spot.

Now this, whilst it is a necessary result of that elasticity of the air which ministers to so many other useful purposes, is also a most wise provision for this end, that it keeps the great currents of the atmosphere down to the earth's surface. It causes them to flow at the bottom of the ocean of the air instead of at the top, as do the currents of the ocean of waters. Were it otherwise, these currents would range on the extreme limits of the atmosphere, instead of on the surface of the earth.

Immediately that the air became heated by contact with the heated earth, it would ascend in a vertical column until it reached the extreme surface of the atmosphere; along that surface it would determine a current, imperceptible on the earth's surface as are the surface-currents of the ocean in its depths. Thus we should experience no motion of the sluggish air from place to place, no "winds from the four quarters of heaven;" but a stagnant and perpetual calm, unbroken except by continual exhalations and upward currents; a dense curtain of vapour would overspread us, beneath whose shade would reign fierce vicissitudes of temperature, and the pestilence spread wide her wings. But the goodness of God endureth continually" (Ps. lii. 1). "Fire and hail, snow and vapours, and stormy winds fulfil," therefore, word" (Ps. cxlviii. 8); and are "turned round by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them on the face of the world in the earth" (Job, xxxvii. 12).

"his

The heated air ascends, indeed, by reason of the greater density of the cold air about it; but after a short ascent, it attains a region where the surrounding medium—although it may be colder—is but equally dense. There, then, its ascent terminates. It is there-instead of at the surface of the atmospherethat it begins to spread itself, and there it determines its current. Along this region, comparatively near to the earth's surface, it distributes its heat, radiating part, and propagating the rest by contactbearing it in a current, at first inclined downwards, to some point perhaps far removed from that where it arose, and disturbing the equilibrium of the subjacent air wherever it passes.

By the laws of hydrodynamics the motion of this current above necessarily brings about a motion of the air beneath it; a result which is favoured by its continual tendency, as it cools, to descend.

Moreover, the original displacement of this mass of air is brought about by a motion of the air around it, and the motion of this air supposes that of some other mass of air adjacent to it, that of a third, and so on. Thus every variation in the temperature of the lower air propagates a series of displacements of its mass along the earth's surface, and of currents in a region more or less elevated above it. These are the winds.

Higher than the region of the winds, the mass of the atmosphere is comparatively untroubled-they rage at the bottom of that mighty ocean, and do not ruffle its surface. By the marvellous wisdom of this disposition, the heat which the winds bear with them is made not to waste itself in the higher atmosphere, but to cherish the earth. They carry it from the torrid zone not only, as do the waters of the ocean, to the shores of northern

It has been calculated that a current of air flowing over a warmer surface, whether of land or water, becomes in the space of an hour penetrated with the same temperature as the surface over which it travels, to the depth of eighty feet. Our easterly winds present a remarkable example of the circumstances under which the temperature of one region is borne to another. In the spring and early summer their direction is from the cast and north-east, and, coming from the cold steppes of Siberia over the northern limit of the great central plain of Europe, they reach us chilled and frozen. In the autumn their direction is south-east, and they traverse the sultry region of Arabia and Asia Minor. they are then hot and thirsty.

and temperate regions, but over the broad surface of the land-over hill and valley, through the deep forest into the matted foliage of the trees, and amongst the tangled grass; and no stunted shrub, or hidden flower, or weed, is too humble to be beneath their ministry. With us each particular scheme and contrivance of our skill and judgment is directed to one particular object, or at most embraces two or three objects in its design. It is thus that finite wisdom of necessity guides the operation of finite power. With God it is otherwise. The same scheme of his creative wisdom is directed to an infinity of objects, embraces an infinity of results. One property of matter, for instance, works out the great purposes of nature in an infinity of different ways.

Thus it is of the property of expansion by heat. Who shall number the phenomena which are included under that one property? The equalisation of the temperature of the air and water is but one of a countless multitude. Take this other example. At every expiration breath leaves the body of every living creature, which a second time inhaled would be poison. There is, therefore, a provision that it may instantly be lifted up and carried away. That provision is in the expansibility of the air. Again; the breath has carried with it a constituent part of the living organisation, a portion of the carbon of the blood. That this should be lost in the great system of nature, would violate that principle of economy which is its pervading law; the winds therefore bear the carbonic acid of the breath, eventually, not through the higher regions of the atmosphere, but so as to sweep it along in immediate contact with the earth's surface, until, by an inscrutable process, it is taken up, and reincorporated with some form of vegetation; to become, perhaps, an article of food a second time, and to return, through the same cycle of change-animal food, the chyle, the absorbents, the blood, the arteries, the veins, the respiration of some living animal, and the winds

-

again to assist in the process of vegetation. "O Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" In thy hand is every living thing, and the breath of all mankind" (Job, xii. 10).

"

MAN'S SUPERIORITY OVER OTHER

CREATURES.

BY C. M. BURNETT, ESQ.†

THE remarkable superiority which man maintains over all the other inhabitants of the earth, in spite of his great physical inferiority to many of them, is a phenomenon so singular, that it is not surprising that much attention has been directed to the discovery of its natural cause. Losing sight of the declaration of God, made known to us in revelation, that man was to have dominion over the works of creation, and that all things were to be put under his feet, some persons have endeavoured to ascertain whether there is not an inherent something in his corporeal frame sufficient to account for the almost incredible power which he exercises, with little opposition, over all the other denizens of the earth. But if he be contemplated in relation to his physical nature alone, we may with truth affirm, that man is the greatest anomaly with which we are acquainted. A creature in many respects so poorly provided with means of defence against the innumerable foes by which he is surrounded, so desti

Carbonic acid gas is remarkable for its weight, and greatly heavier than atmospheric air.

Author of The Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as displayed in the Animal Creation."

tute of the ordinary means which are bestowed with such liberality upon all other creatures to enable them to withstand the vicissitudes of temperature, and the operation of other physical causes, we see man the undisputed lord of every thing that has life; the whale, the crocodile, the elephant, the horse, the venomous reptile, or the huge saurian, are alike defied and subdued. It is probable that the physical inferiority of man, so manifestly to be traced in his organisation, is one of the many means taken by the Creator to convince us that his ways are above our comprehension. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out; he is excellent in power and in judg Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know?"

ment.

It might reasonably have been thought that, in endowing a creature with the extraordinary power which is given to man, the Creator would have employed greater mechanical means, and have bestowed a much larger share of physical strength than is conferred upon the lower animals; and we cannot but be astonished when we consider that so far is this from being the case, that man is physically the most unprotected of beings. This may have been one of the many instances of Almighty power which forced themselves upon the mind of Solomon, who applied his heart to know wisdom, but who found that he could not comprehend or explain all the works of God. "I beheld all the works of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it: yea, farther, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it."

If, prior to all experience, the question of man's superiority had been considered by human beings, undoubtedly that superiority would have been denied. But revelation had declared the fact from the beginning independent of reason, and unrefuted by experience, the fact has perfectly coincided with those memorable words, "Man shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." How true this prophecy has proved to be, under all circumstances, even the most disadvantageous, I need not here endeavour at length to shew. Even those portions of the human race on which the arts of civilisation have scarcely dawned, have ever possessed the power to subdue all creatures to their service. Indeed, among many savage nations this power seems to have been more extensive than among civilised people; and we read of men contending with the gigantic crocodile, and subduing the formidable shark, in their native element. The extraordinary power which man holds over the most deadly serpents,* is another instance of his superiority over the brutes. 'Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment;" yet there have been instances of men descending, without fear or danger, into caverns and other subterranean recesses where these reptiles are known to congregate: and what is so surprising as the facility

66

* Some birds also have been shewn to possess a wonderful power over serpents.

Eccles. x. 11.

with which the huge crocodile is completely subjugated to man? The methods of capturing this formidable creature have been practised from the earliest times, and are recorded by Herodotus, Pliny, and others; and there is little doubt that in the early times of Job this animal was subdued by the dexterity of man, as we read in the 40th chapter of the book of Job. Allusion is made to the several plans which had been practised by the ancients to subdue the crocodile, when the Almighty appeals to Job, if he thought such means would be available in subduing leviathanan animal now known to have been a crocodile in form, but of much larger dimensions.* After the flood, man's dominion over all the lower creatures was guaranteed in yet stronger terms: "And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast," &c. And how truly has this been fulfilled! The fiercest animals have an instinctive dread of man. It has been said of the lion, that, when it lives near the village or huts of Indians, being acquainted with man and the force of his arms, it will fly and leave its prey at the sight of a woman or even a child. Tigers, too, instinctively avoid the haunts of men.

Without, however, accumulating instances of this kind, let us shortly inquire into the cause of man's superiority. If he is destitute of so much which when possessed by other animals constitutes their superiority, it is obvious that he cannot be said to take precedence of other animals in virtue of his organisation. "If," to use the words of Dr. Spurzheim," he owe his arts to his hands, why do not idiots invent? why do painters drop the pencil, sculptors the chisel, and architects the compass, as soon as their understanding is deranged; while other individuals bring forth stupendous works by the assistance of crippled hands or of stumps?" And since his power over the brute is so undoubted, it, must follow that for this power he is indebted to other circumstances. Respecting the cause in question, revelation furnishes us with sufficient information.

"There

is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." This is the means which God has appointed in order to give man authority over the brutes. It is this which lifts him above the rest of the creation, and places him upon the elevation which he maintains, in spite of the apparent disadvantages of his physical constitution.

From this subject we may learn, that with God nothing is impossible; and though it surpasses our finite comprehension to discover why it has pleased Him to choose the weak things of this world to confound the strong, yet we see the fact clearly displayed in the structure of man's body, which proves that the power he possesses is derived from God. Upon the lower creatures, that great Being, who is the God of the spirits of all flesh, has bestowed an inferior spirit, which enables them all to take their stations according to his Divine appointment. "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all

"Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? canst thou put a hook into his nose?"

these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind" (Job, xii. 7-10).

The Cabinet.

SELFISHNESs is a sin which so saturates the entire man, and yet is so subtle, that even when dominant it is little suspected. Here and there its operation may occasionally be detected; but usually it is hidden out of sight. When it would outwardly appear, then upon principle it is quickly and resolutely thrust away and disowned when another discloses, or even intimates the rooted evil, instead of conviction, humility, horror being produced, anger arises, and resentment follows; too often the faithful friend is considered an enemy; and the secure soul goes on in its selfishness, gaining strength and complacency by time. The early and feeble barriers of propriety and delicacy are overstepped, and the strong obstacles of a tender conscience and grateful, sensitive heart are forced aside. The way is now plain and easy, and every object of thought but one is presently lost sight of. The man becomes necessarily and inveterately selfish, is abandoned, or rather abandons himself, to the worst of his enemies, the deadly destroyer in his own bosom.Remains of Rev. C. J. Paterson, edited by Archdeacon C. J. Hoare.

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST.-The life and walk of our blessed Saviour during his agonising sufferings here below was only a development of those perfections which were hidden in the bosom of Deity from eternity in an unfathomable abyss. Thus impurity of any kind would have been an improper channel, and could not have received the perfections of Deity, so as to develop them into visible life. If you wish to exhibit the beautiful and primary colours of light, you must use a pellucid prism. The humanity of the Son of God was perfectly free from all sin and pollution; hence the perfections of Deity evinced their beauty to us in his humanity precisely in the same manner as a proper medium, when exposed to the sun, shews its primary colours. The Sun of righteousness, in the sufferings of humanity, resolves all the glories of Deity into what? into all the beauties and excellencies of Him who is light inaccessible. The perfections of God, concentrated in the faculties and feelings of the Saviour, pour forth all their refluent streams in the graces of his humanity. God is incomprehensible to finite being. The naked eye never could have discovered the beauties of light in the sun; but by an intervening medium we become fully acquainted with them. Behold, then, the glory of God in the face of his Son Jesus Christ.-Rev. W. Howels.

THE SAVIOUR POINTED OUT. -"Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burntoffering?" 'My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering." Ages rolled away after this prophecy was given. Abraham and Isaac returned from the mount, where they had foreshadowed the love of the eternal Father, and the obedience of the only-begotten Son. One patriarch after another was, moreover, gathered unto his people. Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham; Esau and Jacob buried Isaac; Jacob yielded up the ghost; and afterwards Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. Still, however, the answer of faithful Abraham was echoed on, "God will provide himself a lamb." It was the language of pious exultation; it was the unceasing voice of prophecy; it was the substance of all the multiplied types and shadows contained in Jewish ordinances. The altar of the tabernacle, while it journeyed slowly and painfully through the wilderness, repeated from stage to stage the uninterrupted promise, "God will provide himself a lamb:" and the

more stately altar at Jerusalem, while it smoked with its thousands of victims, and was surrounded by its multitudes of worshippers, cried with a clearer and a louder voice-in the midst of the courts of the Lord's house it continually cried-" God will provide himself a lamb." And at last came one who was greater than a prophet; there was the voice of one crying in the wilderness," Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world."-Sermons, by the Rev. J. E. Riddle.

EARTHLINESS OF MAN'S NATURE.-Nothing is more humiliating to a mind truly fixed upon God, than the mixture of earthly leaven which often works within us, and debases the character of our most spiritual pursuits. It continually reminds us of the state of imperfection to which man has been reduced since sin came into the world; so that, at the highest pitch of human attainments, there is reason to complain of the contracted scope of our faculties; and in the purest moments of heavenly communion, we are constrained to acknowledge the intrusion of low and worldly associations. Like the apostles, whose eyes were heavy at the moment of the transfiguration of their Lord, it would seem as if the mind of man were not able to contemplate with a steady gaze the highest glories of heaven, even when revelation has removed the veil that shrouded them. Those in particular who exercise the ministerial office have occasion to feel more than others this infirmity.-Sumner's Ministerial Character of Christ.

LAW.-Sins which are committed against the first table of God's ten commandments are not so much regarded by the world as those which are committed against the second: and yet what are the sins done by a poor wretch, who according to law and justice is hanged, compared to the sins of a false teacher, who daily destroys many poor people, and kills them both in body and soul?-Gems of Luther.

FALSE TOLERATION.-The boasted peaceableness about questions of faith too often proceeds from a superficial temper, and not seldom from a supercilious disdain of whatever has no marketable use or value, and from indifference to religion itself. Toleration is an herb of spontaneous growth in the soil of indifference; but the weed has none of the virtue of the medicinal plant, reared by humility in the garden of zeal.-Coleridge's Aids to Reflection.

BE NOT HIGH-MINDED, BUT FEAR. We ought to be humbled on account of the manifold decays and abatements of the grace of God in us, our aptness to leave our first love (Rev. ii. 4). How did Hezekiah fall into an impolitic vain-glory in shewing all his treasures to the ambassadors of a foreign prince! thereby kindling a desire in him to be master of so rich a land, as soon as God left him to himself (2 Kings, xx. 12, 13). How quickly, without continual husbandry, will a garden or vineyard be wasted or overgrown with weeds! How easily is a ship, when it is at the very shore, carried with a storm back into the sea again! How quickly will a curious watch, if it lie open, gather dust into the wheels, and be out of order! Though, therefore, we may have found sweetness in religion, joy in the Holy Spirit, comfort, yea heaven, in good duties, power against corruptions, strength against temptations, triumph over afflictions, assurance of God's favour, vigour, life, and great enlargement of heart in the ways of godliness; yet for all this let us not be high-minded, but fear. Remember, the flower that is wide open in the morning when the sun shines upon it, may be shut up in the evening before night come. If the sun had not stood still, Joshua had not taken vengeance on the enemy (Jos. x. 13); and if the Sun of Righteousness do not constantly shine upon us and supply us, we shall not be able to pursue and carry on any victorious affections.-Bishop Reynolds.

Poetry.

SABBATH THOUGHTS.

BY MRS. ABDY.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

ALAS, a heavy lot is mine to bear,
Dwelling the crowded city's walls within,
And hearing, on this day of peace and prayer,
The oft-repeated sounds of worldly din!
O, it is hard to know that men profane
The Sabbath's morning hours with sordid gain,
And give to revelry and pleasures light
The calmness of its sweet and sacred night,
Close to my home-yet boast no power to stay
Their rebel course, or summon them away.

Yes, on these objects I have sadly dwelt,
Till my vex'd spirit, chaf'd with all around,
Perchance more anger at their sin hath felt

Than in a sinner's bosom should be found;
Then have I trac'd in thought some valley lone,
Where traffic's restless tumult is unknown,
And sigh'd to join the simple peasant throng,
Passing the primrose-cover'd paths along,
Seeking their profit from God's holy dome,
Their pleasure from the tranquil joys of home.
Yet have I check'd my peevish discontent,

And felt that God hath with a kind design
To all who love his ways some trial sent,

And in his wisdom hath allotted mine
To lie amid the crowded scenes of life.
Perchance if far remov'd from human strife,
My spirit in dull apathy might sink;
Perchance I might in fond contentment think
This lovely earth my place of final rest:
God knows my heart, and judges for the best.
And though surrounding evils I deplore,

From inward sources I can peace obtain;
I can the Gospel's precious leaves turn o'er,
And worship God within his sacred fane;
I may to prayer and praise devote the hours,
As though I dwelt 'mid quiet streams and bowers.
The children of the Lord, whate'er their lot,
On this blest day I feel should murmur not;
But live within themselves, retir'd, apart,
Holding the silent Sabbath of the heart.

FROM "SUTTEES."

BY J. F. LONGMIRE.

LET Rome's Pantheon to the clouds aspire
In mimic mockery of the Olympian quire;
Mendeli's marbles crown Athena's fane,
And mountain-pyramids tower o'er Misraim's plain :
Be this thy glory, Albion, to have built
A sacred refuge from the arm of guilt;
With blest ambition burn alone to be
Oppression's foe, and conquer but to free.

"Remains of the late James Fox Longmire; with a Memoir, by D. Longmire, B.A." Simpkin and Marshall. 1834.-This volume has but lately fallen into our hands, though published some time ago. It is an interesting record of the career of a youth of excellent promise.