INATTENTION TO PROVIDENCE. 347 



important operations in our agricultural concerns. 

 As by irrigation we turn a quantity of nutritive 

 water over our lands, or by reason of its higher 

 temperature foster the growth of grasses; so, by 

 draining cold and superfluous moisture off, we pro- 

 mote the growth of valuable vegetation. I would 

 advocate the cause of all creatures, had I the privi- 

 lege of knowing the excellency of them ; not wil- 

 lingly assigning vague and fanciful claims to ex- 

 cite wonder, or manifest a base pride by any vaunt 

 of superior observation ; but when we see, blind as 

 we are, that all things are formed in justice, mercy, 

 truth, I would tell my tale as a man, glory as a 

 Christian, and bless the gracious Power that per- 

 mitted me to obtain this knowledge. 



Residing, as I constantly do, in the country, 

 and having been long observant of rural things, 

 and the operations of Infinite Wisdom, through 

 the very feeble organs with which I have been 

 endowed, I have often thought that we, who are 

 daily made sensible of so many manifestations of 

 creative power and mercy, should be more seriously 

 disposed, more grateful for the beneficences of 

 Providence, than those who live in societies re- 

 moved from these evidences ; but yet I neither 

 know nor believe that we in any respect give greater 

 proof of this disposition, or are more sensible of 

 the benevolence of an overruling power, than others. 

 The manufacturer by the combination of artful 

 contrivances effects his purposes, and by aid of 

 man's wisdom brings his work to perfection ; the 



