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constantly covered with verdure, which yields an easy 

 couch and agreeable food to the various tribes of cattle. 

 There it extends into a wide open country, which annu- 

 ally bears a copious harvest : a harvest, not only of the 

 principal wheat, which is the staff of our life, but of the 

 appointed barley and various other grain which are food 

 for our animals. 



" The furrows vary their produce. They bring forth 

 flnx and hemp, which help us to some of the most ne- 

 cessary accommodations of life. These are wove into 

 ample volumes of cloth, which, fixed to the mast, give 

 wings to our ships. It is twisted into vast lengths of 

 cordage, which give nerves to the crane, and sinews to 

 the puily, or else adhering to the anchor, secure the ves- 

 sel even amidst the driving tempest. It covers our tables 

 with a graceful elegance, and surrounds our bodies with 

 a cherishing warmth. 



" Yonder arise the hills, like a grand amphitheatre ! 

 Some are clad with mantling vines, some crowned with 

 towering cedars, some ragged with mis-shapen rocks, or 

 yawning with subterraneous caves. And even those in- 

 accessible crags, those gloomy cavities are not only 

 a refuge for wild goats, but sometimes for Mose of whom 

 the world is not worthy. 



" At a greater distance the mountains penetrate the 

 cloud*, with their aspiring brows. . Their sides arrest 

 and condense the vapours as they float along. Their ca- 

 verned bowels collect the dripping treasures, and send 

 them gradually abroad by trickling springs : and hence 

 the waters increasing roll down till they have swept 

 through the most extensive climes, and regained their 

 native seas. 



(l The vine requires a strong reflection of the sun- 

 beams, and a large proportion of warmth. How commo- 

 diouslydo the hills and mountains minister to this pur- 

 pose! May we not call those vast declivites, the garden-walls 



4 



