The sun is a great and glorious light; it has been locked up to with feelings of respect by some people; it has been thought to be the Deity, and worshipped as a god. At one time God warned mankind not to worship the heavenly bodies, he said, take heed, "lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and to serve them."* In summer, dews are very refreshing to plants. The dews come out of the earth. They are drawn out of the earth by the heat of the sun, but they cannot ascend to the clouds, because the atmosphere over the earth is cold; when the warms the atmosphere, the next morning, the dews ascend, as light thin sun *Deuteronomy, c. iv. verse 19. vapours, to the sky. From the sun we receive light and heat-the earth would be cold and dreary without the sun; it lights the earth, and makes it look pleasant, and it ripens our corn aud fruits. If the sun did not shine, the plants and animals could not live. The sun is a creature of God-it was created for our happiness. God makes the sun to shine, and he is therefore the "Father of Lights,"* and we must wor ship him alone; it is idolatry to worship a creature. "If we behold the sun when it shines, or the moon walking in brightness; and our hearts be secretly enticed, or our mouth kiss our hand; this also would be iniquity to be punished by the Judge, for we should deny the God that is above."† God appointed the seasons, and years, James c. i. verse 17. † Job, c. xxxi. verses 26, 27, 28. and days, for periods of time; the sun is the sign of these periods; and God himself assures us in his holy word, that" while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease."* FIFTH DAY'S WORK.-THE CREATION OF FISHES. On the fifth day God spoke, and at his command the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, were created. God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."+ And God saw that the work was good, and God blessed them, saying-" be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."‡ Genesis, c. viii. verse 22. † Genesis, c. i. verse 20. The largest fish that is known is the great whale-it is mostly found in the northern seas. Some fishes are very small, not longer than a little child's finger. Fishes are found in small streams, in pools, in lakes, in rivers, in seas, and in the wide ocean. Most fishes are formed with a long smooth body, and a sharp head, but some fishes have flat bodies, and roundish heads,-soles are thus formed; eels and some other fishes have cylindrical bodies. Fishes push themselves forward in the water by moving their tails; their bodies are balanced in the water by their fins. The larger fishes prey upon the smaller ones, and some of the larger fishes feed also upon insects. Many of the smaller fishes feed upon water-insects and water-plants. The fishes are very curious and wonderful animals. The shark has very sharp teeth, and a wide throat-it can swallow a man. The sword-fish has a long bony beak on its upper jaw, which is shaped like a straight sword—it is a large fish, and it sometimes pierces the belly of a whale with its long beak. There is a fish with very large fins, like wings-it is called the flying fish; when this fish is pursued by other fishes, its enemies, it rises out of the water and flies to a distance. A flying fish is about as large as a herring,—from twelve to eighteen inches long. Fishes are very useful to man. They are useful for food. Many fishes give us oil, especially the whales; the whale also gives us the material called whalebone. The skin of the shark is very rough like a file, it is made into shagreen, which is used to cover small boxes and cases for various instruments. There is a small whale that gives us spermaceti, for ointment and candles: and the sturgeon gives us isinglass. |