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CHAPTER VI. 



THE REVOLUTION OF THE SEASONS. 



THE wisdom, and power, and beneficence of an 

 Almighty Creator, is in nothing more discernible 

 among His lower works, than in the revolution 

 of the seasons. In these the heavens and the 

 earth operate on each other ; " the rolling year" 

 is full of God : in its course, all His attributes 

 are called into operation, in so far as they re- 

 gard us, His dependent creatures ; and, while 

 the awakening spring sends forth the snow-drop 

 and the crocus to speak of His benignity and 

 love, the snows, and the rains, and the hurri- 

 canes of winter, remind us of the vengeance 

 which has been threatened against sin, and the 

 power of his avenging arm ! 



I have already, in speaking of the adaptations 

 of the external world to our wants and necessi- 

 ties, alluded to the harmonious succession of the 

 seasons ; and now, as I intend the following ob- 

 servations to be more of a popular than a scien- 

 tific kind, my mention of the influences which 

 regulate them, will be merely such as are neces- 

 sary for a bare comprehension of the subject. 

 Suffice it, therefore, to say, that the motion of 



