TENTH WEEK-SATURDAY.

III. MAN IN WINTER.-ADAPTATION OF HIS CONSTITUTION TO THE SEASON.

BESIDES the adaptation of external nature to the protection of man from the severities of winter, we have another proof of beneficent intention in the adaptation of the human constitution itself to the endurance of these severities. All animals are more or less endowed with this power of accommodation, yet none so much as those which are destined to be the companions and the aids of man; and man himself, assisted by the contrivances which his intellectual powers suggest, stands, in this respect, preeminent above them all. It was consistent with the beneficent intentions of the Creator, that the only rational race of beings on our globe, should be dispersed over every climate, and should carry intelligence and mental enjoyment, and a heart capable of feeling and acknowledging the Almighty Benefactor, into every corner of the earth. We accordingly find, that the human frame can exist, not only under the vertical sun of the tropics, but under the chilling blasts and wide-spread snows of the polar regions.

It may be difficult for the physiologist to discover in what this power of accommodation lies; but, that it does actually exist, in a remarkable degree, the slightest acquaintance with the history and condition of the human race demonstrates. Every climate, indeed, and almost every country, exhibits some peculiarity in the constitution, and even in the external appearance, of the inhabitants, which indicates this power. The wellknown varieties in the color of the skin, with its different shades of white, yellow, red, brown, and black, is an example of this. The color of the eyes, and of the hair, and the shape of the nose, the cheek-bones, and the lips, are

other familiar instances of a distinction of races in connexion with food and climate, as well as other local circumstances. I mention these as mere indications, for I do not know how far, or in what respects, any of them contribute to the accommodation in question. But the profuse perspiration of the Negro, under the heat of the tropics, and the stunted growth, and thick-set form of the Laplander, and native of Greenland, where food is scanty, and the cold intense, are less equivocal marks of wise and benevolent design. The perspiration diminishes the heat of the one, while the concentrated frame of the other preserves the animal warmth; and, while it probably increases the bodily strength, and thus gives additional power both of exertion and endurance, affords the faculty of existence on a diminished quantity of food. The state of the Negro is well known, and therefore need not be dwelt on; but, as the condition of the inhabitants of the polar regions is less familiar to the public, and comes more immediately under our present subject, it may be proper to show how far the view we have taken of their bodily constitution corresponds with their known habits and powers. Goldsmith, following Buffon, gives a most unamiable account of the personal appearance of the inhabitants of these inhospitable countries, including, under one description, the Laplanders, the Esquimaux Indians, the Samaoid Tartars, the natives of Nova Zembla, the Borandians, the Greenlanders, and the Kamtschatkans. His description of their habits, however, shows them to be powerful, active, and patient of fatigue, cold, and hunger, to a remarkable degree. Speaking of the Laplanders, he says, "They make use of skates, which are made of fir, of nearly three feet long, and a half broad. With these, they skate on the icy snow, and with such a velocity, that they very easily overtake the swiftest animals. With these skates, they descend the steepest mountains, and scale the most craggy precipices; and, in such exercises, the women are not less skilful than the men. They have also the use of the bow and arrow, which seems to be a contrivance common to all barbarous nations; and which, however, at first required no

small skill to invent. They launch a javelin also with great force, and some say that they can hit a mark no larger than a crown, at thirty yards' distance, and with such force as would pierce a man through."

In reference to the whole race of the inhabitants of the extreme north, this author observes, that, "in proportion as we approach the pole, the size of the natives appears to diminish, growing less and less as we advance higher, till we come to those latitudes that are destitute of all inhabitants whatever; and then he adds the following interesting and characteristic account.

"The wretched natives of these climates seem fitted by Nature to endure the rigors of their situation. As their food is but scanty and precarious, their patience in hunger is amazing. A man, who has eaten nothing for four days, can manage his little canoe in the most furious waves, and calmly subsist in the midst of a tempest that would quickly dash a European boat to pieces. Their strength is not less amazing than their patience. A woman among them, will carry a piece of timber or a stone, nearly double the weight of what a European can lift.”

This general statement, which is intended to apply to several distinct tribes, is probably pretty accurate, so far as it goes, though perhaps somewhat overcharged. Recent voyages and travels have made us better acquainted with the people of those regions, and some interesting facts, both with regard to the character of the inhabitants, and their mode of life, have come to light, as well as with regard to the peculiarities of soil and climate, and the nature of animal and vegetable productions, of which, in a few subsequent papers, we shall avail ourselves. Meanwhile, the reader cannot fail to be struck with the peculiar arrangements by which the most rigorous climates are accommodated to the subsistence of man; or to perceive in these arrangements, the most distinct traces of an Intelligent Designer. It is true that, in the extremes both of heat and cold, there seems to be something unfriendly to the developement of the mental powers; but still it is cheering and instructive to see every where provision made for that rational being, whom, of all his sublunary

works, the Creator has endowed with faculties capable of discerning Himself, and offering up the thanksgivings of creation.

ELEVENTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

THE UNCEASING AND UNIVERSAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

THERE are many associations connected with this season of the year, which lead the religious mind to look back on past events, as well as forward to the future, in reference to the operations of that Divine Being, in whom we live and move. In contemplating these, we see a thousand things which, even to our diminutive understandings, appear to be insignificant, and a thousand more which seem to have happened contrary to reasonable expectations. Such considerations induce us to inquire if it be indeed true, that a God of infinite perfection presides over these events, and occupies Himself with the minute concerns of the little world we inhabit. The inquiry is at all times interesting.

It has already been remarked, that the perfections of the Godhead are manifested not only in the large and magnificent scale of operations, to which the view of the starry heavens introduces us; but just as clearly and convincingly in the smaller, and, to our limited apprehensions, less important, arrangements of our terrestrial globe. Numerous evidences of this truth have come under our notice, in the compensations, adjustments, and contrivances, by which the general welfare of living beings is provided for, even in the bleak season of winter, and under circumstances apparently the most unfavorable. Nor is it in created objects themselves, alone, but in their daily history also, that the same character is to be perceived; for the God who made, continues to preserve His creatures; and the same Hand, which wheels the

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planets in their orbits, and orders and arranges their daily positions, and their mutual attractions, is as divinely occupied in preserving the various races of His terrestrial offspring, and in directing the daily occurrences by which their individual experience is distinguished.

That the Almighty watches over each of the beings He has made, and appoints its situation and its history in all their varied vicissitudes, seems to follow from the fact, that He at first saw fit to create it; for, to imagine that God should have formed any creature, without having previously arranged the uses to which it should be put, the place it should occupy in the economy of creation, and the mode by which it should contribute to the advancement of His glory, is just to suppose Him such a one as ourselves,-ignorant and unsteady, fluctuating in His designs, and capricious in His conduct. Nor does the meanness of any of the creatures affect the question. The fact, that it has been esteemed worthy to be made, establishes the other fact, that, so long as it exists, its movements and its history must be ordered and superintended by God; and that the least noticed and most ordinary occurrences connected with it, are under His control. It requires, for this minute care and superintendence, no greater condescension, than for its original formation; and, if it be granted, that God is not degraded by the latter, it is inconsistent to imagine any degradation to attach to the former.

To every argument, therefore, used to support an opposite conclusion, it were enough to reply, that, as it is God's to create, so it is His to uphold; and, though to some of the creatures have been assigned a nobler place, and a higher destiny, than to others, the meanest, as well as the most exalted, must receive from God whatever care is necessary to enable them to fulfil the designs for which they were created. The seraph has his place assigned amid the glories of the celestial palace, where he is for ever and ever hymning the praises of his Creator. The pebble of the brook, whether it lies perpetually unnoticed among the stones in which it was originally imbedded, or serves, in the hand of one under the Divine