146 ST. BUDEAUX CHURCH. 



stretches away on all sides, terminated only by the 

 everlasting hills on the north, and by the multitudi- 

 nous ocean in the southern horizon. The landscape 

 is now smiling in all the gorgeous luxuriance of early 

 autumn.^ Divine Providence has blessed us with 

 most propitious weather for the in-gathering. From 

 many of the fields their precious burthen has been 

 already removed, but others are still standing thick 

 with corn. It is only perhaps when viewing such a 

 scene as this, bathed in the mild radiance of an Au- 

 gust evening sun, '* slanting with level beam along," 

 that we can fully appreciate the bold and beautiful 

 prosopopoeia of the Psalmist, and hear " the valleys 

 laugh and sing. " Where the mower, the reaper, and 

 other labourers, are not employed in the harvest-field, 

 the arrishes-f are besprinkled with the village poor, 

 busily and cheerfully occupied in ear-picking, as 

 gleaning is termed in the homely compound of our old 

 English vernacular. After them follow herds of 

 cattle, poultry, and flocks of pigeons, each obtaining 

 a share in the bounty of the Giver of all good, who 

 out of the abundance of the harvest field made, by 

 the law of Moses, a special provision for the poor ; J 

 and who, from the leavings of man, thus provides a 

 banquet for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the 

 air. Looking landward on such a scene as this, 

 where tokens of plenty salute the eye in every direc- 

 tion, the language spontaneously flowing from the 

 heart of a Christian is, " O Lord, how manifold are 

 thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all ; the 

 earth is full of thy riches; " and turning to the more 

 distant prospect of the ocean, he continues the strain 

 of praise and admiration, — "So is the great and wide 

 sea also, in which are things creeping innumerable, 

 both small and great beasts. '' 



* Written in August, 1831. 



f Arrish — a stubble field, after the corn has been cut. 



I Lev. xix. 9, 10. Deut. xxiv. 19. 



